# LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 5 

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J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



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HENRY A, ROWLAND, 

AL'THOR OF A WORK OX THE COMMON MAXIMS OF INFIDELITY. 



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" The 11 -wilt show me the path'x)? life." 

Psalm xvi. 11. 



NEW YORK: 



PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD 

Brick Church Chapel, opposite the City Hal!. 

/f^ , 1851. ^ 






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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

M. W. DODD5 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern 

District of New York. 



EDWARD O. JENKINS, PRINTER 5 

]14 Nassau street, Ne>y York, 



MEMBEKS OF MY CO]S'GREG ATIO]S^ 

AND ESPECIALLY 

THE YOUTH OF MY BIBLE CLASS, 

MANY OF WHOM, 

Under these instructions, have been led, as I trust, 
TO THE SAVIOUR, 

STJis Volume 
Is affectionately inscribed, 

By their Friend and Pastor, 

HENRY A. ROWLAND. 



^ttfatnrtj IRmurk^, 



He who undertakes to write on a theme like 
this, vnll find it of great importance properly to 
conceive of truth, and lucidly to express it. It 
should be his aim tf draw a pure theology from 
the Living Fountain ; and not only to set forth the 
Word of Life intelligibly, but in a way not to be 
misunderstood. 

There are various works, designed to guide the 
sinner to Christ, already before the public ; but 
th^y are fewer in number than is generally sup- 
posed, and many of them are exceedingly defective 
in Scriptural simplicity. Instead of being written 
in a style that a child may comprehend, or such as 
a pastor would use in communicating the way of 
Hfe to those who ask, " What must I do to be 
saved?" the form and dignity of doctrinal discus- 
sions are often assumed. Such discussions, though 



VI PREFATORY REMARKS. 

excellent in their place, are here inappropriate. 
When an inquirer comes to ask the great ques- 
tion alluded to, he needs such instructions as may 
guide him into the path of life ; not to have a body 
of divinity given him to read, nor an elaborate doc- 
trinal treatise, however useful they may be to him 
at other times. He needs, above everything else, 
that simple view of truth which will communicate 
most impressively and practically the Gospel plan 
of salvation, and guide him intelligently to the 
Saviour. * 

How the Author has succeeded in the difficult 
task of preparing a work modeled on these princi- 
ples, must be determined by others. His endeavor 
to prepare such a work originated in the pressing 
need felt for a volume which should explain the 
points which a pastor is compelled to treat of over 
and over again, for the proper instruction of those 
who are inquiring into the way of life. 

To Christian parents, and all others who feel the 
need of a plain analysis of truth affecting the con- 
version of the soul, this Ittle work is especially 
commended. 



€nnttntB, 



I. A Call to the Wanderee, ... 9 

II. The Position of Man as a Moral Being 

UNDER THE DlYINE GOVERNMENT, . . 23 

m. Katural Character illustrated, . . 29 

lY. Conviction of Sin, ..... 34 

V. The vain endeavors of one awakened, 
TO reinstate Himself in the Divine Fa= 
VOR BY HIS esteemed Good Works, . 42 

VI. The Path of Life opened through Jesus 

Christ, 51 

VII. The Inquirer directed to the Saviour. . 57 

VIII. Justification through Faith, or Christ 

THE Living Way, . . . . .73 

IX. Conversion, .82 

X. Saving Grace illustrated. . . .92 



V]ll CONTENTS. 

XI. Motives to Immediate Submissioi!^, . ,101 
XIL Difficulties removed 106 

XIII. Delay inadmissible, . . . .112 

XIV. Faith, , . . . , . .120 

XY, Kepentaxce, 126 

XVI Saxctificatio::^, . . . , .133 

XVII. How it may be known to one that he 

is truly Converted j. . ^ . ,139 

XVIII. A Religious Profession^ . , .142 

XIX. To please God, as the Supreme Motive 
of our Actions, our only Safe Guide 
in the Journey of Life. . . .149 

XX, The Reasonablness of pleasing God, and 

the Happiness to which it leads, . 165 

XXI. Home, .,,,... 114 



t ^Etlj nf t\U. 



CHAPTER I. 



A CALL TO THE WANDERER. 

Were you to discover a traveller, at dusk of 
evening, passing into a thick forest, along a road 
where there were deep ra^dnes, bridgeless rivers, 
and dangers unforeseen accumulating at every 
step, you would instinctively call on him to stop. 
If he had advanced so far that your voice could 
but just reach him, still you would call to him 
with an intensely earnest cry. Turn back, turn back, 
or you are lost. Should he regard the intimation 
of danger, all would be well ; but if he should 
dash on, heedless of it, he would assume the re- 
sponsibihty of his fate. It is on this principle 
that God addresses men in the Gospel. Perceiv- 
ing the multitude in the broad road of impeni- 
tence, pressing on to everlasting death, he calls to 
them, out of motives of compassion, from his glo- 
2 



10 THE PATH OF LIFE; 

nous throne in heaven, bidding them turn from 
their evil ways, '' for why will ye die ?" 

This call, wanderer from God, is addressed 
to you. While advancing with the multitude, 
thoughtless of your course, you are encompassed 
by a thousand dangers. You may precipitate 
yourself from a dreadful precipice, or plunge 
into the stream of death. Every step is bear- 
ing you onward toward a hopeless destiny. Your 
peril is imminent ; and God, beholding it, ad- 
monishes you of the dangers into which you are 
advancing, and bids you turn. That you may feel 
the solemn earnestness of the admonition, and 
escape the threatened danger, permit me to lay 
before you the scriptural facts respecting youri 
character as a sinner, your future prospects, and 
the way of life through Jesus Christ, that you may 
identify this as the call of God, and be inclined 
by motives of heavenly influence to turn and live. 

0, reader, whosoever thou art that dost look ■ 
upon these pages, consider the infinite value to ' 
your happiness of true religion, and do not lightly 
turn away from the truthful considerations here 
presented. Do not cast down this book as con- 
taining nothing worthy of your attention, or de- 
serving seriously to interest your thoughts. For 
so sure as death is nigh, must your immortal 



A CALL TO THE WANDERER. 11 

spirit present itself before Christ in judgment, to 
give account of the manner in which you have 
treated his blessed Gospel, and of the improvement 
you have made of the precious opportunities con- 
ferred on you to seek your salvation. Do not run 
over these pages hastily, for they contain directions 
which may guide you into the way to heaven. 
Let the truths they teach become the subject of 
your meditations, and give them earnest heed. 
They set before you an open door, and present 
motives of thrilling power to lead you to Christ. 
If guided by these truths, you may pursue the 
journey of your life in safety, and reach at last 
the home of the blessed. If you regard them not, 
fatal to your happiness will be the termination of 
this journey. 

There are several inquiries affecting your rela- 
tions to God, and your hope of future happiness, 
which you should seriously consider, that you may 
gain a clear perception of your natural condition 
as a sinner, and may give heed to the merciful in- 
vitation, to turn into the path of life. 

1. What am I ? I find myself in a world of 
thinking and responsible beings, surrounded by 
good and evil, acting a part in the great drama 
of life, and soon to pass off its stage ; and I would 
fain know my true character, and what my pros- 



12 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

peets are, as founded on this character, of happi- 
ness or misery to come. Who can tell me what 
lam? 

This inquiry receives a truthful response in the 
sacred oracles. These teach that you are a crea- 
ture of God, the product of his forming hand, 
sustained by his power, and endowed with a 
capacity to know and love him. You are a moral 
being, capable of discerning right and wrong, and 
of acting under the guiding influences of truth. 
You are a responsible being, endowed with moral 
faculties, and fitted in your intellectual and moral 
nature to be a proper subject of law. You are 
an immortal beino^ and are to live when the world 
and all that it contains shall have perished in the 
conflagration of the last great day. 

As the creature of God, rationally endowed, 
and the subject of his moral government, you are 
bound to know and love him. The obligation to 
this duty is commensurate with your being. It 
began with your existence, as the obligations of a 
child toward its parents commence at birth ; and 
it will continue to rest on you forever. It is the 
law of nature written on the heart, and revealed 
as the great law of our being, in the ten com- 
mandments. The law of Sinai originated in the 
relations of man as a creature. It was not en 



A CALL TO THE WANDERER. 13 

acted when written by God on the two tables 
of stone, but only revealed. It had been in force 
from the creation, and was confirmed by our 
Saviour, when on earth, as then in being. When 
the ritual law had passed forever away, its author- 
ity was unimpaired ; and it now stands forth in 
the sacred oracles as the guide of our moral ac- 
tions. 

This law, commanding us to love God with all 
our heart and our neighbor as ourself, you are 
bound perfectly to obey. But this love you have 
never felt. The world has borne off your affec- 
tions, and you have sought its pleasures, in prefer- 
ence to obeying God. In thus choosing the path 
of worldly happiness, you have failed to observe 
the great law on which the holiness and happiness 
of the universe depend, and have sanctioned the 
apostacy of our first parents, by acting out the 
principles which governed them. Often have you 
neglected to think of God, to bend the knee in 
prayer, to heed his admonitions, and to give ear 
to his heavenly call. It is evinced by all the con- 
duct of your life hitherto, that you have sever 
loved him as you ought. 

Instead of this, innumerable positive trans- 
gressions have marked your wayward coui'se. 
You have set up other gods as the object of 
2# 



14 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

your adoration. Not that you have worshipped 
idols as the heathen do, but you have set your 
affections on the riches, amusements, and plea- 
sures of the world, as your chief good. These, 
in your mind, have taken the place of God, and 
you have treated the good things which the world 
proffers you with those feelings of regard which 
should have been bestowed on him. Thus have 
you bowed down and worshipped, not the graven 
images of man's device, but those worldly objects 
which you have set up in the temple of your mind 
to the exclusion of the great Jehovah. You may 
not have taken his holy name on profane lips, but 
have you not gone up to his sanctuary and pre- 
sented yourself before him in the attitude of de- 
votion, with a trifling spirit? Have you not 
treated his name, his attributes, and his word with 
improper levity ? Have you not profaned his 
Sabbath ? Instead of spending its sacred hours in 
acts of devotion, have you not misimproved them? 
Is there a single duty enjoined by the first table 
of the law, which you have not neglected ? 

Have you not also failed as to the duties of the 
second ? Let your thoughts recur to early youth, 
and reflect on countless acts of disobedience to 
your parents, in which you have failed to honor 
thera. You may not, through malice, have put 



A CALL TO THE WANDERER. 15 

in jeopardy the life of your fellow-being, but has 
not your heart often swelled with that hateful 
emotion ? Has not a revengeful feeling some- 
times taken possession of it, in express violation of 
the command, " Thou shalt do no murder/' Have 
not impure thoughts and desires often been in- 
dulged by you ? Has not your tongue uttered 
unkind and unjust remarks of your neighbor ? 
And have you not viewed the things of others 
with an unlawful desire to possess yourself of 
them? 

To these departures from the duties which the 
law prescribes, may there not be added your re- 
jection of the Gospel ? Its kind invitations have 
been addressed to you in vain. You have delib- 
erately neglected to avail yourself of the means 
it provides to escape the impending wrath of 
God. Faithful parents have admonished you ; 
pious teachers, interested in your spiritual welfare, 
have endeavored to guide you to Christ ; and the 
ministers of the Gospel have instructed and 
warned you ; but all in vain. God has dealt 
with you in his Providence, and by his Holy 
Spirit, but you would not yield your heart in 
submission to his claims, nor come to Christ, that 
you may have life. 

Do you ask what you are ? You are a disobe- 



16 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

dient, guilty creature of God, unreclaimed by 
grace, and responsible for tbe ruin into which 
your sins have brought you. By your own 
voluntary disobedience you have incurred the 
penalty of the violated law ; and you will not 
escape from it in the only way set before you in 
the Gospel. You may discover the evidence of 
that ruin into which you have fallen, in the con- 
victions and fears which sometimes oppress you. 
Your conscience is .not at ease. You cannot 
truthfully affirm that you have always done what 
you thought to be right, and avoided what you 
knew to be wrong, but are sensible that you have 
often sinned against your conscience, and against 
what you knew to be your duty. Fear is the na- 
tural result of this disobedience. Our first pa- 
rents, w^iile innocent, knew no fear; but when 
they had sinned, they fled into the thicket from 
the presence of the Lord, trembling with appre- 
hension. In like manner, when you reflect on 
your sins, similar apprehensions disquiet you. 
Unprepared to die, you tremble at the thought of 
death. A thousand anxious considerations press 
on your mind in view of it ; and in these may 
you discover both the fact of your moral ruin, 
and the nature of that misery which it involves. 
In the unhappiness which you often feel, you 



A CALL TO THE WANDERER. l7 

may perceive your destitution of that substantial 
good which the friendship of God imparts. You 
may be dazzled for a moment with the glare of 
the world, and charmed with its sensual delights ; 
but when you look behind its scenes, and reflect 
in solitude on all that you know of its vanities, 
you discover nothing in the world capable of 
affording you true happiness. There are even 
moments when a sense of misery oppresses you, 
and you are ready to wish that you had never 
been born, rather than live under the responsi- 
bilities which you feel are laid on you. Often do 
you wish that there were no God, and strive to 
solace the fears which the thought of him occa- 
sions, by indulging some delusive hope, or some 
undefined wish of escape from the consequences 
of your transgressions. All these feelings of 
unhappiness are the result of sin. Instead of 
being sinless and happy, you are guilty, misera- 
ble, and undone, lost .to the friendship of God, 
under the condemning power of his law, and ex- 
posed to everlasting perdition. This is your true 
moral position as a sinner ; and this wretchedness 
you have brought on yourself. God condemns 
you, your own conscience does, and dark and full 
of pain is the path of sin you tread. 

2. Whither am I going ? I find myself 



18 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

borne along on the tide of life. Companions 
and friends, once associated with me, have de- 
parted ; and whither am I going ? To this the 
sacred Scriptures respond, that you are in the 
broad road to death eternal, are advancing to a 
fatal termination of your course, and that dangers 
imminent are accumulating at every step. Can 
you doubt whither you are going ? All the tend- 
encies of your heart are to a departure from God. 
The world has a stronger hold than he on your 
aft'ections ; and it is the language of your daily 
conduct, *' Depart from me, for I desire not the 
knowledge of thy ways." 

Everything that you know of yourself may 
convince you whither your steps are tending. 
You are sensible that you do not love religious 
duties, that prayer is not pleasing to you, that 
the Sabbath is a weariness, that the Bible is not a 
book you delight in, and that communion with 
Christ, at his table, presents to you nothing at- 
tractive. On the contrary, the world commands 
your affections, and, with its gay, thoughtless, 
and impenitent throng, you are pressing on to the 
final perdition of the ungodly. 

Can you doubt whither you are going ? Ask 
it of your conscience ; ask it of God. And the 
response will be, that as a sinner, unreclaimed by 



A CALL TO THE WANDERER. 19 

grace, you are in the path which leads to death ; 
and not a step have you ever yet taken to escape 
from it. In spite of your wishes and fears, you 
are the same in moral character that you ever 
were ; and while neglecting the great interests of 
your soul, time is bearing you on. As your sins 
are multiplied, your opportunities of repentance 
are diminished. Soon the fatal summons will 
come, and you must stand at the tribunal of your 
judge ; and as an unpardoned sinner you are 
going to meet him there. 

3. What must become of me at last ? I 
know that I must die, and that after death is the 
judgment. What will be my condition then ? 
To this the word of God is responsive, that if you 
do not turn from the path of death, you must 
perish. This fatal termination of impenitence is 
presented to our view under the similitude of 
death. As this is the most fearful of all the 
evils which here threaten us, so God makes use 
of it in his Word as a symbol of that misery 
which sin occasions, representing the soul in hell 
as forever suffering the agonies of dissolution, 
and yet incapable of death. 

The most striking emblems in nature are in the 
Word of God, selected to impress us with the 
misery which sin occasions after death. It is 



20 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

compared to that horrid agony produced hy the 
gnawing of a worm on the living flesh ; for, said 
our Saviour 'Uheir vrorm dieth not." ''Dark- 
ness '' is another emblem of this misery ; hell is 
described as a place of *' outer darkness, where 
there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of 
teeth." *' Fire " is another emblem used with a 
similar intent ; and hell is represented as a place 
of fire and brimstone, where the smoke of the 
torments of the wicked ascendeth up forever and 
ever. 

These scriptural emblems are all designed to 
convey to us an impression of that dreadful state 
of misery into which the impenitent fall after 
death. We are thus given to understand, that 
the sufferings of the lost exceed everything that 
we have ever known of suffering beside. Do you 
then ask, what will finally become of me ? Re- 
ceive the testimony of God on this subject ; you 
must be " punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord and the glory of 
his power." You may not now fear this result; 
but it will surely come. Eternity spreads itself 
out before you as a world of accumulated hor- 
rors; and to this you are fast approaching. 
Ages and ages of duration will pass away ; but to 
eternity there is no limit. All the years that can 



A CALL TO THE WANDERER. 21 

be added together or conceived of, will not dimi- 
nish aught from eternity; for from an unending 
duration all the periods of time that can be sub- 
tracted will not in the least degree reduce the 
mighty sum. 

And do you purpose still to press on in the 
broad road to death, refusing to humble yourself 
before God, rejecting his mercy ? That kind and 
gracious Being sees the imminence of your peril, 
and from his throne in heaven bids you turn. 
The most exalted and glorious being in the uni- 
verse interests himself in your welfare, and warns 
you of your danger. Lo ! the ground on which 
you stand already trembles, the awful gulf is 
just before you, the shades of night are closing 
around you, and you know not but another step 
will plunge you down never more to rise. And 
now, heaven is moved with compassion, and a 
message from the eternal God reaches you, bid- 
ding you turn from this way of death, or you are 
lost. Will you heed this admonition? To-morrow, 
do you say, I will. why presume upon to- 
morrow, when this very night your soul may 
receive its summons to the tribunal of its final 
judge? 

Let it be your fixed purpose, now to choose God 
as your portion, and to seek him with all your 
3 



22 



THE PATH OF LIFE. 



heart until you find him. I know that you will 
never press into the path of life, unless in conse- 
quence of such a determination. Let it then ex- 
press the full purpose of your soul to say, my 
neglected God, I now choose thee as the object 
of my supreme affection, and am determined to 
seek thee until I find thee. strengthen in me 
this solemn purpose, and enable me, through thy 
grace, to come to the Saviour, and to attain the 
s^lorious inheritance of his saints in heaven. Show 
me the Path of Life, that, guided by thy Spirit, 
I may walk therein, and enter at last into thy 
presence, ** where there is fullness of joy," and 
to "thy right hand,'' where *Hhere are pleasures 
for evermore." 



CHAPTER II. 

TPIE TRUE POSITION OF MAN AS A MORAL BEING, 
UNDER THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 

When our first parents sinned, tliey broke the 
law of their Maker, and fell under its condemnation. 
But ere their sentence was pronounced, an event 
occurred in heaven, which had an important bearing 
on the future destinies of the race. The Son" of 
God, the second person in the Trinity, offered to 
become incarnate, to suffer and die as an atoning 
sacrifice, and so to magnify the law through his 
sufferings, that, consistently with its integrity, par- 
don might be freely extended to sinful but repent- 
ant man. In consequence of this merciful arrange- 
ment, the execution of the penalty was stayed, a 
respite granted, pardon, on repentance, offered, 
and full remission of sins to all who should turn 
unto God through faith in the great Redeemer; 
and that these merciful desio^ns misfht be success- 
fully accomplished, the government of the world 
was transferred to Christ, who is to reign till the 
whole world shall be subdued by the power of 
his victorious grace. 



24 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

By this arrangement the curse was not removed 
from our first parents, but only suspended as to 
its execution; and a respite was granted, to allow 
the provisions of mercy to take effect. The pro- 
mise was graciously made, that the seed of the 
woman should bruise the serpent's head. One 
descended from her should in due time arise, who 
should conquer the great enemy of the race, and 
through whom the guilty world might be recovered 
from the apostacy. Pardon and eternal life were 
to be freely offered in his name ; and, -through faith 
in him, sinners, though deserving eternal death, 
might return back to God in humble penitence, 
and be reinstated in the holiness and bliss of Eden. 

This was to be effected by our Saviour, through 
the voluntary offering of himself on the cross as a 
propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of men. It was 
necessary that such a sacrifice should be provided, 
that God might preserve his law inviolate, and 
yet extend mercy to all who should receive and 
rest by faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, as a Saviour. 
The system of grace, thus arranged in the counsels 
of the divine wisdom, commenced its operation 
immediately after the apostacy ; and, though the 
Saviour had not yet come and suffered, yet it be- 
ing immutably fixed in the purposes of Jehovah 
that he should, his atoning sacrifice became, even 



MORAL POSITION OF MAN. 25 

then, as effectual to salvatioa as if it had ah^eady 
been offered up. For four thousand years, the 
blessings of this plan of grace were enjoyed by the 
world ; and then, when the fullness of time had 
come, Jesus, the great High Priest, appeared, to 
put away sin by the offering of himself. When on 
the cross, he bowed his head in death, crying " It is 
finished ;" the mighty work was done. Multitudes, 
who, in anticipation of his sufferings, were already 
in glory, saw the object of their adoration expire as 
a malefactor, knowing at the same time that but for 
this sacrifice their own seats in heaven must have 
been vacant, and their songs of praise exchanged 
for groans of endless sorrow and despair. They 
saw the prophecies in him fulfilled, and the efficacy 
of his atoning blood reaching back to the apostacy 
of man, and forward to his second coming. 

What would have been the destiny of the race, 
had our first parents stood their trial, can only be 
conjectured ; what it has become in consequence 
of their apostacy, is evident. The records of in- 
spired truth teach, that *' all have sinned ;'' that 
all mankind partake of the sin, and are exposed to 
the ruin consequent on depravity ; and that our 
fallen and sinful race are under the same con- 
demnation they would have been under if Jesus 
had not died. The curse is suspended, not re- 
3^ 



26 



THE PATH OF LIFE. 



moved ; and the day of grace is the period of 
respite, during which, the gospel proflfers forgive- 
ness and eternal life to those who come by faith 
to the Saviour. All mankind are under condemna- 
tion ; all are ruined by sin ; and if they fail through 
Jesus Christ to escape into the path of life, they 
must perish without remedy. 

The Gospel describes the position of impenitent 
sinners under the divine government as eminently 
dangerous. They are regarded as lost, like one 
bewildered in a forest, and who cannot find his 
way out. He who pursues a course of conduct 
tending inevitably to his ruin, is said to be a lost 
man. So also the man who gives himself up to 
ruinous intoxication, and whom no motive can lead 
to abandon his wicked course, is said to be lost. 
And when the sinner already under condemnation 
continues to press on in the path of disobedience 
to God, he is said to be lost. By this it is not 
meant that unconverted sinners are already cast 
away and separated from God and heaven by an 
irrevocable sentence, but only that they are in that 
moral state in which, if they do not repent, they 
must inevitably perish. They are " condemned 
already," and the sentence is suspended over them 
ready to be executed. But they enjoy a merciful 
respite, and the proflfer of forgiveness and accept- 



MORAL POSITION OF MAN. 27 

ance throngli faith in Jesus. In such a condition, 
it is natural to speak of them as lost. Thus our 
Saviour says, respecting the object of his mission 
to earth, that " the Son of Man is come to seek 
and to save them that are lost." Not that the 
sinner is already cast av^ay ; but, that he has so 
ruined himself by his sins, that, if God should 
cease his forbearance, and withdraw his supporting 
band, he would instantly sink to hell. He is in a 
ruined state, and death only is needed to make 
that ruin complete. He need not commit one 
more sin, nor utter one more blasphemy, nor again 
turn away from the sacramental table ; all that he 
need to do, to reach a state of final and everlasting 
exclusion from the presence of the Lord, is to con- 
tinue as he is, impenitent, till his day of grace 
shall have passed away, and then he will sink un- 
der the weight of unforgiven sin to final and ever- 
lasting perdition. 

This, if unconverted, is your true position as a 
moral being under the divine government. The 
sins which condemn you are already committed, 
and the law demands your punishment. But, 
through the Gospel, you enjoy a respite, and an 
opportunity to escape this condemnation, through 
faith in the Saviour who died for you. He it is 
who now bids you come with him. He would 



28 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

have you confide in him, take hold on his hand, 
and follow him ; and he will guide you into the 
path of life. 

And here it is that God meets you in his mercy 
and bids you turn. The path in which you tread 
leads to death. And the danger in your case is, 
that you will continue to press on in this path, 
heedless of invitations and of warning. Multitudes 
have procrastinated their repentance till it was too 
late. Let it not be so with you. Do not put off 
the period of your return to God. Not only 
resolve, but go forward and put that resolution 
into practice. Give yourself no rest till you 
find Christ, and he becomes your great deliverer 
from sin and all its woes. 



CHAPTER III. 

NATURAL CHARACTER ILLUSTRATED. 

Perhaps you think, that though condemned by 
the divine law, you will escape its curse, because 
you are so moral that God will release you from 
its penalty on this account. This is a common 
error. It is important to expose its fallacy. For 
this purpose, and to illustrate the natural charac- 
ter of man before his conversion, permit me to in. 
troduce to your notice one who once stood on the 
same ground with yourself, and who discovered 
that it was vitally defective. Paul, before he be- 
came a Christian, had a reputation for morality, 
which even his enemies acknowledged to be just. 

1. He was an UPRIGHT MAN. His moral charac- 
ter was unimpeachable. When arraigned by his 
countrymen before Felix, they were unable to say 
anything against him. On account of his high 
standing as a man of integrity, conscientiously de- 
voted to the service of God, he was appointed by 
the council of his nation to apprehend and put 
to death the teachers of the Christian relio-ion. 



30 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

And when he himself had embraced this religion, 
and was persecuted on this account, he appealed 
to his life in evidence of his moral standing, even 
in the judgment of his enemies. " Mj manner of 
life, from my youth up, which was at first among 
my own nation, know all the Jews, who knew me 
from the beginning, if they would testify, that 
after the most straitest sect of our religion, I 
lived a Pharisee." Probably there are few persons 
whose character as moral would not suffer by a 
comparison with that of Paul. There are few who 
are not conscious of having committed some sin ; 
few who have not done what they themselves 
judge to be wrong ; few who have nothing to re- 
proach themselves with, and who can say, with 
Paul, " I have lived in all good conscience before 
God until this day.'' 

2. He was a very religious man. It could not 
be said of him, as of many who claim the merit of 
moral goodness, that he lived without prayer ; for 
as a Pharisee, eminent for his religious zeal, he 
must have been pre-eminent in this duty. We 
may be sure that the hour of prayer never came 
without finding him engaged in his devotions. In 
this respect he was very different from many in 
this age, who live without ever bending the knee 
at the throne of grace. 



NATURAL CHARACTER ILLUSTRATED. 31 

He was not only prayerful in his life, but was 
very sincere in his belief. ** I verily thoaght/' 
said he, '' that I ought to do many things contrary 
to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." In the reli- 
gious system to which he adhered he had full 
confidence. It did not satisfy him to be merely con- 
fident in his opinions, but he was active and zealous 
in promoting them. It would be difficult to find 
among the disciples of Christ, in any age, a higher 
regard for the external duties of religion, greater 
conscientiousness, or more ardent zeal ; and we 
may look in vain for such a character among the 
crowd of moralists who throng the Christian 
sanctuary. 

3. He eminently enjoyed the benefits re- 
sulting FROM HIS HIGH STANDING. Uureproved by 
conscience, unconscious of any departures from 
his duty, he felt satisfied that he was an object of 
the divine favor. He had a peaceful conscience, 
and an unwavering hope of the divine acceptance. 
Nor did he believe that God would be so unjust 
as to punish one so upright and religious as he 
was, and who enjoyed such peace of mind. This 
was before his conversion. 

But when brought to view himself in the mirror 
of the divine law, and to apprehend that law in its 
spirituality and power, he saw how deceived he 



32 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

had been, and his hope fied. '' When the command- 
ment came/' he said, *' sin revived, and I died." 
But what had Paul done to produce this conviction 
of his lost estate? Had he been guilty of murder, 
adultery, theft, or falsehood ? Had he taken the 
name of God in vain, and desecrated his holy Sab- 
bath? No. How then could the law slay his 
hope ? Ah, my impenitent friend, it showed him 
his heart. It taught him that he had hitherto 
lived only to himself, and that his pretended zeal 
for God was only a zeal for his own elevation in 
the estimation of the Jewish nation. His hopes 
had all centred in himself. His prayers had been 
offered only out of a supreme regard to himself; 
and his religious zeal had arisen, not from a desire 
for the glory of God, but to make himself known, 
and to extend his popularity far and wide ; and his 
heart was not right in the sight of God. And are 
you not conscious that you too have sinned in this 
respect, as did Paul ? Have you not been living 
to yourself, and neglecting God ? 

No sooner was Paul made sensible of his sin, by 
the application of the divine law to his conscience, 
than he felt that he was lost. 0, what a change was 
then wrought in his views of his own character ! 
His anticipations of heaven, founded on his own 
goodness, all vanished when he came to apprehend 



NATURAL CHARACTER ILLUSTRATED. 33 

the nature of true holiness. A deadly palsy struck 
his soul ; hope, despairing, fled, and he fell to the 
earth in deep amazement and horror, crying, 
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 

If the upright, sincere, and exemplary Paul could 
not be saved by his morality, how can you hope 
to be ? Can you pretend to be better than he ? 
Are you more religious and more zealous toward 
God than he was ? And if the law of God, when 
properly apprehended, slew his hope of heaven, 
what must become of you, when you shall stand 
convicted by this law at the dread tribunal of Jesus 
Christ ? 

Could not Paul be saved by his morality and 
his prayers ? How then can you be saved, who 
have no such morality to plead, and who are pray- 
erless ? That law which you have already broken, 
condemns you. A dark and threatening cloud 
rises over you. The lightning's flash and the deep 
rolling thunder betoken your doom. And you have 
no Saviour in whom to trust, and who may prove 
to you a refuge from the storm which is even now 
ready to burst on your guilty head ! 



CHAPTER IV. 



CONVICTION OF SIN. 



That state of mind in which we should approach 
GoJ to obtain forgiveness, is called conviction. 
This ordinarily precedes conversion. It is impor- 
tant to have a clear view of this subject, to avoid 
being misled as to the way of acceptance with God. 

1. What is conviction? It is a feeling of 
conscious guilt and unworthiness, such as led the 
publican to smite upon his breast, crying, *' God 
be merciful to me a sinner !" This consciousness 
of guilt arises from the knowledge of our own sin- 
fulness. Our first parents in their innocence had 
no such consciousness, because they were not sin- 
ners. But when they had disobeyed God, fear took 
possession of their minds, and they fled into the 
thicket, and hid themselves from the presence of 
their injured Maker. 

Though he who has not sinned cannot feel a 
consciousness of guilt, yet one may be a sinner, 
and yet not feel himself to be guilty. He may 
know that he has sinned, and yet not feel that 
sense of ill-desert which the publican felt, when he 



i 



CONVICTION OF SIN. 35 

stood in deep humility before God. He may have 
knowledge without conviction ; may be a sinner 
without being a convicted sinner. Though con- 
viction cannot exist without a knowledge of one's 
own sinfulness, yet there may be knowledge with- 
out conviction. The sinner may be disposed to 
justify his sin, rather than acknowledge it ; but not 
if he is convicted. The natural tendency of a heart 
oppressed with a sense of its ill-desert, is to aban- 
don all attempts at self-justification, and to stand 
in humble acknowledgment of his offences before 
the throne of divine mercy, pleading for pardon. 

Conviction is often modified by the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the case, and is more or less pain- 
ful as awakened in view of God's anger, or of 
the innate evil and odiousness of sin. The expe- 
rience of many eminent Christians varies on this 
subject. But all sinners, when convicted, feel 
sensible of their ill-desert. They have such 
views of divine justice and holiness, as to feel 
that if God should cast them away forever he 
would be just. This sense of their own vileness 
and desert of punishment is different from that 
feeling of alarm w^hich springs only from the 
fear of punishment. The condemned felon may 
feel a terror at the prospect of his approaching 
execution, and yet not have any proper sense of 



36 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

the heinousness of that crime which he is to ex- 
piate with his hfe. 

These two classes of feeling are often mistaken 
for each other. Alarm is often mistaken for con- 
viction. But it is a very different feeling. It 
leads one to be solicitous merely to escape 
from punishment, not from sin. As it does not 
spring from a sense of ill-desert, neither does it 
lead to Christ as a Saviour from sin. It wakens 
a desire to be free from danger, and leads the sin- 
ner, often, to cry mightily to God for mercy. 
But it does not lead him in true humility and con- 
fession to Christ. If he retire to pray, it is not 
to assume his true position, as a sinner, before 
God, and to ask understandingly, for the sake of 
Christ, the pardon of his sins ; but to utter cries 
for mercy, and that he may be saved from hell, 
in hope that he shall be saved for the merit of his 
intercessions. He thus seeks, but it is not in the 
right way. He knocks, but it is not at mercy's 
door. And after a few ineffectual efforts to obtain 
peace, he desponds. He begins to doubt^lhe truth 
of the Gospel. He yields to some enticement of 
error ; and without making an open avowal of his 
disbelief, he sits year after year a hearer of the 
Word, having no hope but that which will perish 
when God shall take away the soul. 



CONVICTION OF SIN. 37 

But he who is truly convicted, is sensible that 
■without the pardon of his sin he cannot be happy ; 
and that if permitted to enter heaven, his heart 
unchanged, it would be no heaven to him. It is 
the thought of his own vileness which troubles 
him ; and while oppressed with this thought, he 
hears the Gospel, and it is glad tidings to him. 
He hears of one who died upon the cross for sin- 
ners, and feels that he is just the Saviour that he 
needs. He feels that he has nothing to plead in 
extenuation of his guilt, and he cheerfully accepts, 
by faith, that Saviour. Whatever difficulties may 
be in the way to Him, he will cheerfully overcome 
them all. 

2. How MAY THIS STATE OF MIND BE ATTAINED ? 

It is only through a perception of the excel- 
lence and holiness of God, that you can gain a 
knowledge of your sinfulness, and be led to feel 
your ill-desert. The eternal rectitude of Jehovah, 
viewed in connection with your own departures 
from duty and your numerous transgressions o^ 
the divine law, naturally tends to waken in you 
conviction. 

God, your Creator, is infinitely wise, holy, just 
and good. Hence your obligation, as a creature, 
to love him. To treat ungratefully a kind bene- 
factor, is base ; to betray the country that haWk 

4* 



38 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

given you birth, is hateful ; to injure and grieve a 
kind parent, is more odious still. But to treat God 
with neglect, the being to whom you owe your 
life, health, friends, and all the blessings you enjoy, 
is a sin infinitely heinous. It is a crime of deeper 
dye than to violate your obligations to every 
earthly benefactor, to friends, or country. To 
these you owe much ; but to God you owe every- 
thing. 

If it is an offence so heinous to sin ao^ainst God, 
what punishment does sin deserve ? All offences 
deserve a punishment proportioned to their magni- 
tude. A small offence merits an inferior punish- 
ment, and one of infinite criminality a punishment 
that shall be infinite. The injurious treatment of 
a benefactor may demand exclusion from his so- 
ciety ; the injury resulting from the betrayal of our 
country may demand banishment or death ; and on 
the same principle, the injury done by sin to the 
divine government may demand the separation of 
the sinner from God so long as the soul shall 
live. And this accords with the testimony of the 
Saviour, that the wicked shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment. 

The punishment due a sin that is infinitely 
heinous because committed against a holy God, 
is proportional to the crime. If an offence against 




CONVICTION OF SIN. 39 

our country deserve banishment or death, how- 
much more does one committed against the Infinite 
Sovereign of the universe ? Every sin is deserving 
banishment from God forever. And if one sin 
deserve this, what does a Hfe of sin deserve, every 
hour of which has exhibited constant trans- 
gressions ? 

Conviction not only includes a general know- 
ledge of the heinousness of sin, but a perception 
of one's own individual sinfulness ; and it is by a 
faithful comparison of one's self with the law of 
God, that it is gained. If this demand of you per- 
fect love, then yoil may perceive your own sin- 
fulness by observing how your affections have gone 
forth after the world in preference to him ; in 
what higher estimation you have held its plea- 
sures, and how much more it has occupied your 
thoughts. On a review of your past life, you may 
perceive in how many instances you have know- 
ingly and deliberately sinned, in what neglect of 
God you have lived, how often you have violated 
your conscience, resisted the Holy Spirit, repelled 
serious impressions, and rejected the offered salva- 
tion. It may show you that in all your life past 
you have been turning away from God, hating his 
authority, murmuring against his providence, pro- 
faning his Sabbath, and spurning away his grace. 



40 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

When you begin thus to perceive what a sin- 
ner you are, then read from the Word of God the 
startlinof annunciation that the carnal mind is en- 
mity against him ; and the truth, like an arrow 
from the quiver of the Almighty, may pierce your 
heart, showing you its enmity to this kind and 
gracious being. No sooner can you turn your 
thoughts to the contemplation of the divine char- 
acter, and begin to inquire what you are, than 
conviction will be awakened in your soul ; or, if 
not conviction, that knowledge of your sin which 
is indispensable to it. 

The way to attain conviction, then, is to begin 
in earnest to seek God. Let one endeavor to 
draw nigh to him in prayer, to study his word, 
attend on his ordinances, and put himself in 
the way of religious impression ; and having re- 
solved never to relinquish his endeavors till he 
shall feel the peace of pardoned sin, let him give 
his whole soul to the work of turning unto God ; 
and in proportion as he comes to perceive the ex- 
cellence and holiness of the great Jehovah, will 
he gain humbling views of himself, and be filled 
with such a sense of his ill-desert, as to cry out 
in the bitterness of his soul, *^ I am a sinful man, 
O Lord." 

Many fail of such impressions, in consequence of 



CONVICTION OF SIN. 41 

their habitual neglect of Jehovah. They turn 
away from him, choosing the world as their por- 
tion, and yet wonder that they do not feel, more 
than they do, an interest in their personal salva- 
tion. They do not perceive that they themselves 
prevent their own serious impressions, by their 
thoughtless and inconsistent course ; and that by 
neglecting to seek God, they put themselves be- 
yond the reach of his forgiving mercy. If you 
would make a discovery of your own character, 
begin at once to seek after God. ^ot only de- 
termine to seek him until you find him, but arise 
and go unto your Father, confessing your sins. 
Never can you become sensible of your ill-desert, 
while you remain at a distance from him. It is only 
when you approach him, and, through the opera- 
tion of the Holy Spirit on your heart, gain a clear 
perception of his holiness, that you will -discover 
how vile you are. At his feet you will learn, that 
amid the mercies of heaven, you have been thank- 
less ; that you are unworthy of his notice ; that 
if he should send your guilty soul to hell, he 
would be just ; and that it becomes you to cast 
yourself down into the dust before him, crying, 
*' Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." *' Lord, 
save me, I perish." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE VAIN ENDEAVORS OF ONE AWAKENED TO RE- 
INSTATE HIMSELF IN THE DIVINE FAVOR BY HIS 
OWN GOOD WORKS. 

The first and most natural resort of a convicted 
sinner, to obtain peace of mind, is to his own self- 
righteousness. The plan which he forms to escape 
the curse of sin, includes his prayers, tears, good 
resolutions, and promises, as the basis of his hope of 
acceptance. He feels that, as he has sinned against 
God, he must do something pleasing to him to 
secure his favor. Accordingly, he purposes to 
lead a different life from what he has hitherto 
done, to read the sacred Scriptures more fre- 
quently, to attend divine worship oftener, and, 
perhaps, to enter his closet and pray. All this 
he does on the principle of making himself better,, 
and with a view to become so good that he may 
presently hope that he has become a Christiano 
The thought uppermost in his mind is, that he 
need only cultivate the good feelings of his nature. 



GOOD WORKS UNAVAILING. 43 

by devotional exercises and by acts of cbarity 
and mercy, to commend himself to the divine ap- 
probation. He thus expects to be saved for what 
he is, or for what he is to become, through his 
own unaided efforts. This plan to escape the 
curse of sin, has no relation to Christ as an 
atoning Saviour, and must fail, because it leaves 
Him entirely out of view as the ground of justifica- 
tion, while it bases one's hope of heaven on his 
own merits. 

On the same false principle, instructions are 
sometimes given to inquiring sinners which lead 
them directly into this fatal error, and to build 
their hope of acceptance with God on their own 
works. They are told, when asking what they must 
do to be saved, "to use the means of grace," by 
which is meant, that they must read the Bible, 
attend church, pray, encouraged Yfith the expec- 
tation that in so doing they will become Christians^ 
The thought which the troubled mind eagerly 
seizes on is, that in obeying this direction he is 
doing something acceptable to God ; and the natu- 
ral tendency of it is to build one up in his self- 
righteousness, but not to lead him to Christ. In 
like manner, also, is one often told to ''persevere 
^n the use of the means of grace, and all will come 
out right at last ;" by which the convicted sinner 



44 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

is given to understand that he is doing something 
good and acceptable to God, and if he only con- 
tinues in this course long enough, he will be saved. 
Such instructions tend to lead the sinner away 
from Christ, and to build his hope on a, foundation 
of sand, which the storms of the last day will 
assuredly sweep away. The mistake consists in 
the assumption, that there is something good in 
his prayers and promises, and that they are a 
ground on which he may reasonably expect that 
God will bless him. Whereas, there dwelleth in 
him, as a rebel against God, no good thing. All 
his prayers and promises emanate from a principle 
of selfishness, nor do they spring in any degree 
from love to God. He who thus seeks his salva- 
tion is doing nothing in this way, but continuing 
to press on in the path of death ; and if he should 
** persevere," he must inevitably perish. Prayers 
and promises, good resolutions, and acts of charity 
are important in their place, but they constiute 
no proper basis of the sinner's hope. Instead of 
being told to persevere in the use of such means, 
he should be told to stop in his mad career of 
ruin, to abandon all hope of acceptance by his 
own righteousness, and to submit himself to God, 
trusting in Jesus Christ and his atoning blood alone, 
for justification. 



I 



GOOD WORKS UNAVAILING. 45 

So great is the danger of mistake on this point, 
and so fatal is the mistake when made, that it is 
of great importance clearly to perceive that you 
cannot escape the curse of sin by your own self- 
righteous efforts, and why such efforts must be 
unavailing. The state of the unconverted sinner 
is one in which he loves himself supremely. He 
loves nothing in the universe in preference to him- 
self; not even God. He measures the value of 
everything around him by its adaptedness to pro- 
mote his own happiness. He loves the world just so 
far as it is instrumental in promoting his pleasures ; 
and he loves God in the same manner. Just so 
far as God is good to him, and is the source of his 
mercies, he feels a pleasure in him. When he 
rises in the morning refreshed with sleep, walks 
forth in the light of the pleasant sun, and sees the 
goodness of God, in causing sunshine and rain to 
advance his crops, he feels a kind of elation of 
heart, and he loves God ; but it is only so far as 
he conceives that the agency of the divine hand is 
displayed for his benefit. In other words, he 
loves himself supremely, and loves God no further 
than his power is made subservient to his own 
happiness ; and this is supreme selfishness. This 
love to God is not for his divine excellence, but 
for the excellent crops he sends to feed the selfish 
5 



46 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

sinner. And this is the only kind of love to God 
ever felt by the unconverted man. It may change 
into the most bitter enmity in a moment, and will 
thus change so soon as the sinner is made to feel 
that God is above him, and he must submit to him 
or perish. Hence it is said that the *' carnal mind 
is enmity against God ;" not that this spirit of 
enmity is always active, but that the natural state 
of the unconverted soul is one in which this spirit 
of enmity may be at any moment developed. For 
if the sinner love himself supremely, all that is 
needed to develop this spirit of hatred toward 
God, is to have the sinner feel that God is no 
longer the instrument of his happiness, but is his 
eternal Sovereign, whom he must obey. The mo- 
ment that he feels that God's will c-rosses his own, 
and that he himself must submit or perish, then 
his enmity rises, and the spirit of his carnal nature 
becomes developed in all its malignant forms. 

The great point gained in conversion, is the 
entire submission of the sinner to God through 
Jesus Christ; and the difficulty with the prayers 
and promises of one awakened is, that they do not 
reach this point. One may continue this use of 
the means of grace forever, and yet never reach 
the point of submission. On this account, such 
iustructions must fail to direct the sinner aright. 



GOOD WORKS UNAVAILING. 47 

Besides, these prayers and promises in the sinner 
are all prompted by a supreme regard to himself ; 
not from love to God for his own intrinsic excel- 
lence. They are only a development of his selfish 
desire after his own happiness ; not of his desire 
for the divine glory. They are the exhibitions of 
one who would escape the rod, not of one who 
feels that he is wrong, and desires to hate that 
wrong, because it is ingratitude to a God whom 
he sincerely loves. There is nothing morally good 
therefore in any of the endeavors of the sinner 
to escape the curse of sin, and which are put forth 
for the purpose of pleasing God. All are selfish 
and unholy. I^or, tiil he yields himself up to God 
through faith in the Redeemer, can the sinner do 
anything which God will regard with approbation, 
and as a ground of conferring his blessing. 

The mistake most often made, and against which 
you should carefully guard, is in supposing that 
one can improve his own moral state, by good re- 
solutions, prayers, and tears of penitence, and 
make himself so good that he shall gain the path 
of life by his own unaided efiforts, and irrespective 
of Christ's atoning sacrifice. Hence it is the con- 
stant effort of many who are misled on this point, 
to make themselves better, and to try to become 
so good that Christ will receive them, and ac- 



48 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

knowledge them as his disciples. But how good 
must you become, thus to enter into hfe ? You 
must be wholly free from sin. Not a sin must 
you commit, in thought, and in deed, but you must 
become as holy as was our first parent before he 
fell. And if you could become thus holy, and 
continue so till the day of your death, would this 
save you ? Do you see no fatal defect in this 
plan ? Why would you not be accepted of God, 
if you could make yourself thus holy, and continue 
so till death ? Because there are the sins of your 
past life, which are still recorded against you, and 
for which you have made no provision. If you 
should live a perfectly holy life, you would not do 
anything more than is your duty. You could 
not in this way gain a stock of merit, which might 
be set off against your former sins to counterbalance 
them. So that if you could make yourself better, 
even as holy as a saint in heaven, it would not 
save you ; for you are under condemnation for the 
sins already committed, every one of which will 
meet you at the judgment seat of Christ. 

What you need is the forgiveness of your past 
sins ; and this you cannot attain by efforts to make 
yourself better, but by humbling yourself before 
God in true submission, renouncing all dependence 



GOOD WORKS UNAVAILING. 49 

on yourself, and depending wholly on Christ's 
atoning' sacrifice. 

But you cannot, if your would, make yourself 
better than you are, while you continue in rebellion 
against God. You may, indeed, break off some 
outward sins, and amend your life, but your heart 
you cannot amend. In vain will you strive to be- 
come holy in this way. And if you could, it 
would not save you. What you need is pardon ; 
for unless you experience the pardoning mercy of 
God, you cannot behold his face in peace. 

But how is this pardon to be obtained ? Can 
you do anything to merit it ? Could the prodigal 
son, when he returned to his father in rags, do 
anything to merit his pardon ? If he had re- 
turned, exculpating himself, and promising fu- 
ture amendment, would his father have received 
him as he did? Would he not have justly sus- 
pected the sincerity of his conduct ? But when 
he returned clothed in rags, and prostrated him- 
self before his injured father, saying, ** Father, I 
have sinned against heaven and before thee, and 
am no more worthy to be called thy son," he did 
just what the circumstances of his case demanded. 
It was the way to obtain forgiveness ; and the 
kind father embraced him in his arms, saying, 
**This my son was dead and is alive again, he was 
5* 



50 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

lost and is found." So naust you return to God, 
if you would experience his pardoning grace, and 
be clad in the Saviour's own robe of righteousness 
in the final day. 

Abandon, therefore, all thoughts of gaining the 
path of life through your own self-righteous eflforts, 
and by trusting in the merit of your prayers and 
promises. Renounce all hope of making yourself 
better than you are, while you withold your heart 
from God. But go to him in the humble con- 
fesssion of your sins, go in the spirit of a true peni- 
tent, turning from your own works of righteousness 
and reposing your guilty soul on Christ alone, who 
hath died for your redemption, and who is '' able 
to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God 
by him." 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PATH OF LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. 

Aware of the futility of the convicted sinner's 
efforts to gain the favor of God by his own self- 
righteous works, Jesus Christ, God's only Son, con- 
sented to come into the world and die upon the 
cross, as an atoning sacrifice, for the sake of which 
we might be forgiven. Accordingly, when the 
fulness of time had come, Jesus Christ appeared 
to put away sin, by the offering of himself, *' that 
God might be just, and the justifier of him that 
believeth ;" and that *' whosoever believeth in 
him might not perish, but have everlasting life." 

This offering was made, that the divine law 
might sustain no disregard or injury by the for- 
giveness of the penitent. The law claims that 
the guilty sinner shall die under its curse ; but 
Jesus Christ took this curse upon himself, and by 
dying in the sinner's stead, may forgive him his 
sins, and spare him the endurance of the curse, 
having been made a curse for him. Having thus 
assumed, by his death, to meet the demands of the 



52 THE PATH OF LIFE 

law, and having suffered under it, he is able to 
release the sinner from its penalty, and to restore 
him to the divine favor, he himself becoming his 
surety. And such is the infinite dignity of the 
Son of God, and such the value of his sacrifice, 
that God can accept his obedience and death, as a 
full equivalent for the eternal sufferings of all who 
accept this Saviour by faith as their great deli- 
verer. That is, the death of Christ as a propitia- 
tory sacrifice, effects the same purposes of moral 
government, that the punishment of those who 
believe in him would have done, had they been 
left to perish. It as fully vindicates the law, and 
sustains it, as just in its demands, and just in its 
threatened punishment ; and in this way : by not 
sparing his own Son, but giving him up to death 
in place of the sinner, God shows the world that 
he regards his law as just, and is determined to 
sustain it ; and that, if he would not spare his own 
Son, when he had voluntarily assumed the sinner's 
place in sufiering, he will not spare any sinner who 
refuses to avail himself of the mercy offered him 
through Christ. 

The law is therefore magnified and made honor- 
able, by Christ's sufferings and death, and no man 
may dare to impugn its claims, or presume that it 
may be set aside in his favor, if he continue to 



THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. 53 

neglect the salvation which the Gospel offers him. 
You may not presume, therefore, to Hve and die 
impenitent, because the law has become a dead 
letter. On the contrarj'', you see what it has 
done with Christ, and that even God's own Son 
could not escape its wrath when he had voluntarily 
assumed the sinner's place ; and how then can 
you, if you neglect his great salvation ? 

Instead of being destroyed, therefore, the per- 
petual obligation of the law has become strength- 
ened by the atoning sacrifice, and the faith which 
it demands. And this is the conclusion of the 
apostle, when he says, " Do we then make void the 
law through faith ? God forbid ; yea, we esta- 
blish the law.'' The law, in the view of the uni- 
verse, is stronger this day, and more imperishable, 
than if Christ had not died. It is preserved in 
its priceless integrity ; and yet a way is opened, 
through the death of Christ, to take away its 
curse from all who avail themselves of offered 
mercy. God is even honored in the forgiveness 
of the sinner, in the way which the Gospel pro- 
poses, and the highest glory is conferred on our 
great Deliverer. 

The scriptural testimonies are ample to the 
point, that Christ's obedience and sufferings were 
in the room of the eternal sufferings of all who 



54 THE PATH OF LIFE 

believe in him ; and that he was their substitute. 
** He died for us/' says the apostle. *' He is the 
propitiation for our sins ;'' '' he was made a curse 
for us ;" " we are redeemed, not with corruptible 
things, as silver and gold, but with the precious 
blood of Christ ;" " for without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission ;'' Christ hath *' re- 
deemed us by his blood." These are but a small 
part of the divine testimonies which are expressly 
to this point. 

If you say that Christ did not suffer in the place 
of those who are saved, because he did not endure 
that penalty of sin which consists in a troubled con- 
science and the pains of hell forever, and ask how 
could his obedience and death take the place of 
such a penalty ; it is replied, that Christ suffered 
all that a perfectly innocent being could ; for if a 
holy being should be sent to hell, it would lose 
its character to him. It would be no hell to him, 
for he would make its gloomy dungeons resound 
with songs of praise to the God he loves. Christ 
suffered no remorse ; for his pure and holy mind 
was incapable of it ; but he suffered such untold 
agonies while on the cross, and under the frown 
of God, that the sweat burst from him as it had 
been great drops of blood falling to the ground ; 
and he cried out in the deep anguish of his soul^ 



THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. 55 

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me?" 

These sufferings, in consequence of his divine 
nature, became of infinite vahie, and effect the 
same purposes under the divine government that 
the punishment of the redeemed would have done. 
They are a full equivalent to these sufferings, and 
by the divine arrangement are accepted in their 
place. They are of infinite merit, and sufficient 
to atone for the sins of the whole world. Hence 
Jesus Christ is called " the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sins of the world.'' " He is the 
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, 
but for the sins of the whole world." So that 
every sinner on earth, and in all ages, may feel 
that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, 
and is ample in merit for every sinner of the race. 
Not that all will avail themselves of its benefits, 
but that it is so ample in its efficacy to take away 
sin, that even those who perish can never plead 
any want of infinitude in the merit of the Redeem- 
er's sacrifice, as the ground of their exclusion from 
mercy. 

All has been done by Christ in the way of atone- 
ment that is needed for any sinner, so that it is 
not to make atonement for his sins, but to accept 
Christ by faith as the atoning Saviour, which is re- 



56 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

quired of him. The heart is rectified by its accept- 
ance of Christ ; for no one can approach the Saviour 
through faith, and not hate those sins which nailed 
the Saviour to the cross, and turn from them in 
true repentance. Hence it is that the Gospel di- 
rects its motives and influences to the heart, to 
subdue it by the power of that love displayed on 
Calvary. No sooner does the convicted sinner 
look by faith upon the once crucified Redeemer, 
than his heart is broken, the spirit of enmity is 
changed to love, and the spiritual image of his 
Maker, lost in the great apostacy, is restored to 
his soul. 

While you relinquish as hopeless, therefore, 
your endeavors to commend yourself to the divine 
favor by your own works of righteousness, behold 
in Christ a door opened, through which the wan- 
derer may turn into the path of life ! While you 
cast away any dependence on your prayers and 
promises, on your tears of contrition, and your 
own esteemed goodness, cast yourself by faith into 
the arms of the great Redeemer, and you shall be 
saved. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ANXIOUS INQUIRER DIRECTED INTO THE PATH OF 
LIFE. 

How am I to begin the work of my salvation ? 
is an inquiry often proposed with great earnestness 
by one who feels the burden of his sins. It is the 
same in substance with the question proposed by 
the jailer to Paul and Silas, when he brought them 
out of prison, fell down at their feet, and said, 
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved V^ Often has 
this inquiry been awakened in the anxious sinner's 
mind, when there was no one at hand to give it a 
suitable response, or to guide his trembhng steps 
to the Saviour. Bunyan represents his future pil- 
grim as in a state of deep mental distress, so that 
when he walked in the fields to find a place of 
retirement where he could unburden his soul be- 
fore God, he cried out, in the words of the jailer, 
" What must I do to be saved ?" While in this 
state, he was met by a Christian minister, who 
taught him what he must do, pointing out to him 
the way of life through Jesus Christ. 
6 



58 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

When in this state of mind, one is in a most 
critical condition. If he repress his serious 
thoughts, mingle with the world, banish his re- 
ligious impressions, and grieve away the Holy 
Spirit, he is in danger of final perdition. If he be 
directed improperly, he may fail to come to Christ, 
and be led into the belief of fatal error. It 
is, therefore, of the utmost importance, at this 
point, to make the path of duty so plain, that none 
can mistake the way. 

The inquiry proposed by one convicted is. How 
can I begin the work of my salvation ? To this 
we respond, by showing first in what ways, which 
are often adopted for this purpose, you cannot 
begin the work of your salvation ; and then point- 
ing out the only way, which is through faith in 
Jesus Christ. 

1. You cannot begin the work of your salvation 
by INACTION. You may feel solicitous respecting 
yourself, and wish that you were a Christian ; but 
so long as you remain in a slumbering and indif- 
ferent state, and are doing nothing to secure an 
interest in Christ, you cannot enter on the path of 
life. The teachings of the sacred Scriptures show 
that the greatest diligence is demanded of all who 
would be saved. '' Seek, and ye shall find ; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you." '^Strive to 



THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. 59 

enter in at the strait gate." *' Make you a new 
heart and a new spirit, for why will ye die V 
** Give diligence to make your calling and election 
sure." " Work out your own salvation with fear 
and trembling." *' Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved." These and 
other testimonies of the Word of God show that 
they who would secure their salvation through 
Jesus Christ must be in earnest to come unto him 
that they may be saved. Our Saviour compares 
this earnestness to the agony felt by those striving 
for the victory in feats of athletic skill, at the 
Grecian games, when he says, *' Strive to enter 
in ;" or in other words, more expressive of the in- 
tensity which the term conveys, agonize to enter 
in ; as if he had said, Be in an agony of soul to 
obtain eternal life, and devote yourself with intense 
endeavors to press through the strait and narrow 
gate into the way of heaven. 

2. You cannot begin the work of your salvation 
by WAITING God's time. The state of mind in 
which you thus wait is one of disobedience to his 
commands. You think that you are waiting for 
God to operate on your heart by his Holy Spirit, 
when you are repelling his gracious operations, by 
clinging to the world yet longer, unwilling to 
give it up for Christ. While he is working in you 



60 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

to will and to do of his good pleasure, you turn 
away from him, and will not have him to reign 
over you. While he instructs, warns, invites, and 
strives with you, to bring you humble and penitent 
to his feet, you live heedless of his mercy, pre- 
tending to wait for those operations of grace 
which he is constantly displaying toward you, 
but to which you will give no heed. And, as if 
to offer a perpetual contradiction of the error into 
which you run, he has affirmed in the most emphatic 
manner, that " now is the accepted time ; behold, 
now is the day of salvation !'' God's appointed 
time with every sinner under the Gospel is now ; 
and there is to him no promise of acceptance 
which extends beyond the present moment. 

3. You cannot begin the work of your salvation 
by DEPENDING ON GOOD RESOLUTIONS. These are 
naturally formed in view of danger. The sick 
offer them to God constantly. The sailor, in a 
storm, or clinging to a plank for safety, when his 
ship is foundered and sunk, is profuse of his pro- 
mises of amendment. And the convicted sinner, 
in the midst of his alarm, naturally promises God 
that he will love and serve him for the remainder 
of his life. But these promises are forgotten so 
soon as the sense of danger ceases to be longer 
felt. And yet they are often trusted in as some- 



THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. 61 

thing which God must approve, and for the sake 
of which he will do good to those who form such 
resolutions. As if to attempt to palm off on him 
a paltry vow, in place of true obedience, could be 
regarded by him in any other light than as one of 
those refuges of lies which the trial of the last day 
will sweep away. 

4. Nor can you begin the work of your salva- 
tion by TRUSTING IN THE MEANS OF GRACE. It is a 

very common error to direct the inquiring sinner 
to a use of the means of grace, without pointing 
out distinctly the way to Christ ; and this error is 
often encouraged by the injudicious advice of 
Christian ministers and friends. The anxious in- 
quirer is told that he must use the means of grace ; 
by which he understands, that he must read his 
Bible, go to church, pray, and wait in this use of 
the means, as it is called, for the manifestation of 
God's converting grace. 

If he do not find present relief, he is told that 
he must persevere ; when it is evident that he 
may continue the formal observance of religious 
duties, such as he practises, till the day of his 
death, and yet never be saved. The tendency of 
such imperfect directions is, to lead him to rest in 
his use of means, as something which is pleasing 

to God, and for the sake of which mercy will be 
6* 



62 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

extended to him ; and to build him up in a self- 
righteous hope. It implies, that he is doing some- 
thing pleasing to God, and that if he only do enough 
in this way, it will save his soul. Whereas, he 
must be led to see that he can do nothing for the 
sake of which he will merit the divine favor, but 
must come to Christ in all his sins, turning from 
them in repentance, and trusting to the righteous- 
ness of Christ alone, for justification. 

5. You cannot begin the work of your salvation 
by MAKING A PROFESSION OF RELIGION. There is 
no more connection between professing faith in 
Christ and possessing it, than between professing 
to be rich and being rich. You may teach the 
anxious inquirer, that if he would enjoy peace of 
mind, he must partake of the ordinances, baptism 
and the Lord's supper, and make a public pro- 
fession of religion. But of what use can it be thus 
to profess what one does not feel ? The mere 
pretence of being a Christian cannot make him a 
Christian ; and there is great danger, that one 
making a religious profession, in such circum- 
stances, will rest upon it as something acceptable 
to God, and thus be prevented from coming by 
faith to Jesus Christ and resting on him alone. 

6. You cannot commence the work of your sal- 
vation by WAITING FOR MORE FEELING AND MORE 



THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. 63 

CONVICTION. It is a common error which the 
anxious inquirer makes, to think that he must pass 
through a certain round of convictions and fears 
before he can come to Christ. Hence he sup- 
poses it necessary to wait till he feels more than 
he does the nature and intrinsic evil of sin, and 
until he is led by a kind of irresistible impulse to 
cast himself upon the divine mercy. But nothing 
can be more dangerous than such a supposition. 
It is only by coming to Christ, that feeling of a 
right kind is likely to be awakened ; and one who 
sees his wickedness, and feels his need of pardoning 
mercy, has knowledge and conviction enough to 
turn in repentance unto God. 

The real error here committed is one of self 
righteousness. The inquirer is led to believe that 
there is something meritorious or pleasing to G-od 
in those feelings of mental distress which convic- 
tion occasions. But nothing can be more untrue. 
God has no delight in such distress ; but he has 
delight in the contrite and obedient heart. And 
if one should feel as deep and perpetual convic- 
tions as the lost in hell do, and should weep and 
groan over his sins forever, it could not save him ; 
for never can he be saved till willing to yield him- 
self up in humble faith to God. 

7. You cannot begin the work of your salvation 



64 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

by INDULGINa DESPAIRING THOUGHTS OF God's 

MERCY. You may despair of your ability to atone 
for sin ; and the sooner you feel this kind of des- 
pair the better. But to despair of the mercy 
offered in the Gospel to the repentant, is a state 
of desperate unbelief which is the furtherest from 
conversion. Some say that they cannot believe 
there is any salvation for them, for they have sin- 
ned away their day of grace and grieved the Holy 
Sprit to depart ; and they profess to believe this, 
when it is evident that is only a mere pretence, to 
excuse their continued impenitence. Were they 
truly despairing, the terrors of hell would be visi- 
ble in their very looks. But there is nothing of 
this ; and all that they expect by such pretences 
is to gain sympathy from others on account of 
their esteemed misfortune, and because they would 
have them think that they are in despair. 

8. You cannot begin the work of your salvation 

by TRUSTING IN THE HOPE OF MAKING YOURSELF 
BETTER THAN YOU ARE, WHILE YOU CONTINUE TO 
WITHHOLD YOUR HEART FROM ChRIST. It is the 

first impulse of the anxious inquirer, in setting out 
to be a Christian, to try to make himself one by 
his good works ; and this, he thinks, is the way to 
enter into life. He feels that he is not good 
enough yet to go to Christ, and hopes, by means 



THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. 65 

of religious duties, carefully observed, to make 
himself better ; so good even that Christ will 
acknowledge him as a disciple. He thus hopes 
to grow up into a Christian. The plan is a self- 
righteous one, and is widely different from that 
revealed in the Gospel. 

Even if the inquirer could succeed in this plan, 
make himself as good as Adam was in innocence, 
and continue in this holiness till death, yet it would 
not save him ; because his perfect obedience of 
the law in future cannot take away the sins of the 
past. Hov/ever holy he might become, yet, un- 
less he should receive pardon for the past, he 
could not be saved. So that, admitting that one 
can make himself better while living in disobedience 
to Christ, it could not advance him a step toward 
the path of hfe. He would still be a condemned 
sinner, and without forgiveness. But the idea of 
moral goodness in one estranged in heart from 
God, and living in habitual transgression, is wholly 
imaginary. It would seem to imply that religious 
duties performed out of selfish motives, and not 
from love to God, are pleasing to him. 

In place of the duty demanded of him, of obey- 
ing Christ from the heart, he ventures to substi- 
tute his own self-righteous plan ; acting in this 
respect as the man with the withered hand would 



66 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

have done, which Christ commanded him to stretch 
forth, had he said, ''Lord, I will first try to make 
it better.'' But the Saviour responds, *' You can- 
not, if you should try ; all that you have to do is 
simply to obey mo. Stretch forth thy hand." 
But, instead of complying w^ith this direction, he 
says, '' Lord, I am doing all that I can to make it 
better; I have some excellent remedies which I 
mean to appl}^, and hope that it will soon be so 
well that I can obey you." How could entire 
distrust of Christ, and of his power to heal, be 
more clearly manifested than in such a case ? 

So the anxious inquirer often pursues a like in- 
consistent course. He is in the Gospel command- 
ed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he 
shall be saved. But he excuses himself from 
obeying the command, by substituting a plan of 
his own, which he thinks preferable. Instead of 
coming to Christ and casting himself by faith into 
his arms, he reads his Bible, attends the ministra- 
tion of the Word, gives up posting his accounts, 
reading newspapers, or amusing himself on the 
holy Sabbath, and thinks that he is rapidly grow- 
ing good, and will soon be a Christian. Again, 
the command meets his eye, '' Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ." But he says, I will resolve 
to seek God, and will class myself with the in- 



THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. 67 

quiring ; I will ask an interest in the prayers of 
the church ; I will do the very best that I can to 
make myself good. Again the command reaches 
him, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ;" and 
agnin he promises to join the church, or do some- 
thing else equivalent, while he continues to live 
in disobedience to Christ. Can he do anything 
to improve his own character and make himself 
acceptable to God ? Alas ! he only trifles with 
mercy, while he ceases not for one moment to dis- 
trust the Saviour, and to pass in his unbelief down 
to eternal death. 

9. You cannot begin the work of your salva- 
tion by PRETENDINa THAT YOU WISH TO BE SAVED, 
WHILE YOU RESIST THE GrACE AND GRIEVE THE 

Spirit of God. Many pretend this, who, instead 
of setting their faces like a flint against the al- 
lurements of the world, and pressing on to cast 
themselves down in true humility at the feet of 
Christ, continue to hve only to the world and its 
pleasures. Exemption from the danger of future 
punishment is what they ardently desire ; but 
they do not wish to procure this exemption by 
denying themselves, taking up their cross, and 
following the Saviour. All the salvation which 
they wish is, that God would let them alone, and 
not give them over to punishment. They have 



68 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

no anxiety to be free from sin, but only from the 
danger of hell ; and if they could rid themselves 
of this danger, they would not care if they should 
be left to hate God forever. 

All the efforts vs^hich the anxious inquirer makes 
for his own salvation, which come short of the 
duty commanded in the Gospel, to believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, are vain and useless. Yet it 
is a common sentiment with them, that, of them- 
selves, they must do some great thing to merit 
salvation, such as ascending to heaven, descend- 
ing into the deep, or compassing the earth with 
works of charity and mercy, when all that God 
requires of them is simply to trust in Christ. 
This faith in Christ includes everything which is 
indispensable to salvation ; and without it, all else 
is vain. 

But how can I possess myself of this saving 
faith? Evidently not by inaction, by waiting 
God's time, by depending on your good resolu- 
tions, by trusting in the means of grace, by mak- 
ing a religious profession, by waiting for more 
feeling and more conviction, by indulging des- 
pairing thoughts of God's mercy, by attempting 
to make yourself better through your own self- 
righteous efforts, nor by pretending that you wish 
to be saved while you resist the grace and grieve 



THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. 69 

the Holy Spirit of God. The tendency of ima- 
gining that you can attain salvation in any of these 
ways, is to prevent your coming to Christ, and to 
lead you to build your hope of heaven on your 
own good works, instead of trusting for justifica- 
tion in him alone. 

But the question returns : How can I believe ; 
and how can a willingness to receive and rest on 
Christ by faith be produced in me ? I respond, 
that truth, as revealed in the Gospel, naturally 
tends to waken faith. It is as natural for the 
truth, when applied by the Holy Spirit to the 
conscience and the heart, to produce a willingness 
in the sinner to receive and rest on Christ for his 
salvation, as it is for the sun to impart light and 
heat, or for amiability and beauty to awaken 
love. There is no intermediate step between the 
simple truth exhibited in the Gospel^ and faith 
awakened in view of it. 

Faith is in itself so simple, that no attempted 
explanation of it can make it more intelligible than 
it is, when the term of expressing it is understood. 
How, for example, could you teach a little child 
to confide in hi-s parent ? The human character 
and relations of the parent, as developed in un- 
numbered acts of kindness, naturally tend to in- 
spire confidence in the child ; so that, in view of 
7 



10 



THE PATH OF LIFE. 



danger, the child will instinctively rush into its 
parents' arms. It is that parental kindness and 
love which the child is conscious of experiencing 
from day to day, which inspires its faith. And 
this is the principle on which God operates on the 
hearts of men to bring them to the acceptance of 
his mercy through Jesus Christ. The great facts 
of redemption, as revealed in the Gospel, naturally 
tend to waken in the sinner confidence in Christ, 
and to lead him to trust in him alone for salvation. 
Who can read of God's goodness displayed toward 
the world in so loving it as to give his only Son 
to die for our redemption, and not feel that he is 
worthy of our entire confidence ? Who can view 
Christ in his endurance of the cross and of its 
horrid agonies to save us, and not feel that he is 
infinitely worthy to be trusted ? 'No philosophi- 
cal explanation of the nature of faith could do 
for us what these simple facts of the Gospel are 
fitted to achieve. Faith is the natural impulse of 
the mind in view of them. 

There is no intermediate step between this view 
of truth and the production of faith ; nor can any 
explanation be given on this point beyond the 
simple fact, that it is the tendency of the truth re- 
vealed in the Gospel to inspire in the mind of the 
anxious sinner faith in the Redeemer. Its failure 



THE INQUIRER DIRECTED. '71 

to do this is to be ascribed, not to the truth, but 
the sinner who prevents the proper influence of 
that truth over him, by his own foohsh choice of 
the world. Just at the point where he might 
have yielded to the impression of truth, and cast 
himself away by faith into the arras of his Re- 
deemer, he perhaps turned away from the light, 
gave his thoughts to the world, and thwarted 
those precious influences. Instead of yielding 
up to Christ, he forsook him, as did those unbe- 
lieving Jews of whom our Saviour said, **Ye will 
not come unto me that ye might have life." 

It is the natural tendency of the Gospel to 
awaken in a sinner conviction of sin, a sense of 
his utter ruin, to make him feel the- justness of 
his condemnation, and to encourage him, by the 
kindness and love of God displayed on the cross, 
to trust in the Saviour. So that not faith only, but 
all the states of mind preceding and accompany- 
ing its exercise, are the natural result of truth, as 
it is made operative on the heart by the Holy 
Spirit. In every stage of that impression w4iich 
leads the sinner to cast himself at the feet of 
Christ, the truth produces its natural results. 
No explanation can make this point plainer. If 
the inquirer should dwell on it in his thoughts for 



72 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

years, he would understand it no better than he 
now does. 

The word is nigh you then, in your mouth and 
in your heart. You often think of your duty and 
speak of it^ and now the great question is, why 
do you not obey it ? '' He that cometh to me,'' 
said Christ, " I will in no wise cast out." You 
feel your need of mercy ; you feel that if God 
should leave you to perish in your sins, he would 
be just. You know enough of your guilt and 
danger to be sensible that without Christ for your 
Saviour you must forever perish. View him, then, 
as he presents himself to you in his Word ; one 
who has voluntarily given himself up to death for 
sinners, is able to save unto the uttermost all who 
come unto God by him. And is he not deserving 
of your confidence ? Can you not commit your- 
self into his hands, saying, Dear Redeemer, I come 
to thee in my extremity ; I come in all my guilt, 
for I know that '' if thou wilt, thou canst make 
me clean." ''Lord, I beheve, help thou mine 
unbelief.'' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH; OR CHRIST THE DOOR 
OPENING INTO THE PATH OF LIFE. 

If one charged with murder should be put on 
trial, and after a full and impartial investigation, 
it should be proved that he was far from the 
scene of death at the time that it occurred, he 
would be acquitted, and justified in view of the 
law, by his own innocence. To justify, is to prove 
or declare one innocent. As used by the sacred 
writers, justification describes the state of one who, 
though under condemnation as a sinner, is treated 
as innocent, for the sake of Christ in whom we be- 
lieve. It is a gracious act on the part of God thus 
to treat the guilty, removing from them the curse 
of the law, and enabling them, as forgiven sinners, 
to enjoy eternal life as a free gift, purchased for 
them by Jesus Christ. 

When one comes into this justified state, the sins 
of his past life are blotted out, as with a sponge, 
from the book of judgment. In place of punish- 
ment, he is treated as if he were righteous, for the 
7* 



'74 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

sake of what Christ hath done and suffered for 
him. His faith is counted for righteousness ; and 
believing in the Saviour, he as perfectly enjoys the 
love of God, as if he had never sinned. 

This plan of salvation, through the self-sacrifice 
of another, is peculiar and distinctive. It is the 
door of life which the Gospel opens to the world. 
It saves all who embrace it. It provides both for 
the pardon and acceptance, as righteous, of one 
condemned ; and these are necessary to salvation. 
'No one who is a sinner can stand before God jus- 
tified, without the pardon of his sins ; and the fact 
that pardon is indispensable to his enjoyment of 
divine favor, precludes the idea of justification by 
his own righteousness. 

The apostle Paul shows that justification in the 
saints of old included the pardon of their sins. 
^' AbrahaA believed God, and it," that is, his faith, 
"was counted for righteousness;" and David de- 
scribed " the blessedness of the man whose iniqui- 
ties are forgiven and whose sins are covered.'' 
Neither Abraham nor David were justified by 
their own good works. Both needed and obtained 
the pardon of their sins ; and if they in whose piety 
the Jews confided received the pardon of their 
sins, so must all experience pardon who shall en- 
ter the kingdom of God. 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 15 

Acceptance is associated with pardon. This 
acceptance is not for the sake of any good in the 
sinner himself, but of the righteousness provided 
for him. Christ stands before the eternal throne, 
as one able to communicate the benefit of his right- 
eousness to all who believe in him. The merit of 
this salvation is all the Lord's; none of it belongs 
to the sinner, who is accepted for what Christ has 
done and suffered for him. Receiving and resting 
by faith on this Saviour, the sinner is pardoned, and 
accepted as righteous, and, as the purchase of his 
death, is justified for his sake alone. 

Faith is the means of justification, not its ground ; 
it connects the soul spiritually with Christ, and 
communicates to it the life which he possesses. 
As Christ is righteous, so does the soul of the be- 
liever share in the benefits of this righteousness. 
As Christ cannot come into condemnation, neither 
can the soul of the believer come into condemnation. 
As Christ is glorious and eternally blessed in the 
kingdom of his Father, so will the soul of the be- 
liever enjoy all these benefits, as the purchase of 
the Saviour's death. 

This justification is exclusive of merit in the sub- 
ject of it, and proceeds from the grace of God 
alone. Grace flows through all the provisions 
made for the restoration of fallen man. It is not 



1Q THE PATH OF LIFE. 

by infusing righteousness into one, and constitut- 
ing him just, that he is justified; but by pardoning 
his sins, and accepting him as righteous for the 
sake of the righteousness of Christ. It is not for 
what one becomes through conversion, or for any 
gracious affections wrought in him by the Holy 
Spirit, that he is justified ; nor for the sake of any 
good works done by him ; nor is it for the merit 
of his faith. The consideration of what he is to 
become, as converted, does not enter into the 
ground of his justification ; but the consideration 
of Christ alone, as the atoning Saviour. 

There are great errors prevalent on this subject. 
Some claim to possess, by nature, a spark of love to 
God, which only needs to be enlivened by prayers 
and good works, to become a flame of true piety 
in the soul ; others claim that if they do as well 
as they can, Christ will make up for their deficien- 
cies, and they will be saved, partly for the merit 
of their obedience, and partly for what Christ will 
do for them ; and others, that their sincerity and 
honesty, considered as moral goodness in them, 
will save them. All these depart from the plan of 
the Gospel, and aim to justify themselves by their 
own good works, instead of depending on Christ. 

Some, equally in error, believe that all sin is 
washed away by baptism ; that grace is by regen- 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 77 

eration then implanted in the soul ; that this grace 
is cultivated by prayers and good works, and that 
this is the way and these the means through which 
the sinner is brought into a state of acceptance and 
fcivor with God ; thus substituting the church 
with its ordinances in place of Christ. But these 
errors the Gospel discards, while it sets forth 
Christ, the only door opening into the path of life. 

Justification views the whole of the apostate 
race as sinners under condemnation. It makes no 
distinction of persons, but represents all as equally 
condemned and lost without pardoning mercy. It 
teaches that no man is accepted because he is of 
superior goodness to another, but because he is one 
for whom Christ has died. The purest moralist 
cannot be saved for the sake of his naorality, nor 
the convicted sinner for the merit of his prayers 
and tears. He has no merit of his own, nor can 
he create any merit in himself which may be the 
ground of his salvation ; but if saved, it must be 
only for the sake of Christ. 

The sacrifice which this divine Redeemer has 
offered up is amply sufficient to atone for sin. 
The vilest may, therefore, be as readily accepted 
for the sake of Christ, as those esteemed good. 
Hence the thief on the cross, Mary Magdalene, 
and Paul the persecutor of the Church, obtained 



'rS THE PATH OF LIFE. 

forgiveness. And there are millions of our race, 
as vile and sinful as they, who have found mercy 
through a Saviour. 

But no one is ever justified because he is better 
than another ; for the consideration of his personal 
goodness does not enter into the ground of his ac- 
ceptance. Even those who think themselves good, 
when they come to investigate their characters, 
will feel that they are cut off from any hope of 
their acceptance through their own merits. The 
proud Pharisee can enter heaven only through the 
forgiveness of his sins ; and the best men on earth, 
who are impenitent, must view their own esteemed 
goodness as of no account, and receive at the feet 
of Christ a better righteousness than their own. 

It would be difficult to find a purer character, 
or one who acted more sincerely in his belief, than 
Paul, before his conversion. But when he came 
to view himself in the light of God's law, all his 
hopes of salvation based on his own goodness 
were slain, and he reposed his guilty soul on 
Christ alone. And yet, it is a common opinion, 
that one is saved because he is morally good ; and 
it is the most common course of an awakened sin- 
ner to try to make himself good enough to be saved. 
He therefore resolves, and re-resolves, and prays 
and strives and hopes to grow better, and become 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. '79 

SO good that he will be accepted of God at last, 
all the time deluding himself vnth the impression 
that this is the way of salvation revealed in the 
Gospel. But it is an entire mistake. He cannot 
make himself good enough to be accepted, even if 
he were to become as holy as an angel; for it 
would not take away his past sins. What he 
needs is pardon, and this can be obtained only by 
humbling himself in true submission before God, 
and resting by faith on the Redeemer. 

It is hard for the moral youth and the honora- 
ble man of business to be required to get down on 
their knees before God hke any other sinner, 
and there ask forgiveness for Christ's sake alone. 
And this is the reason why so many of that class 
are passed by of mercy. Their pride and self-es- 
teem prevent them from taking the only steps by 
which they can gain divine acceptance. It is be* 
cause they will not humble themselves before him 
in repentance, and receive and rest on Jesus Christ 
alone as their Saviour, that they fail of salvation, 
though convinced of its importance, and hoping at 
some future time to possess it. They feel them- 
selves to be good, much better in many respects 
than some who profess religion ; and setting up 
their own righteousness as the ground of their 
hope, they turn away from Christ. 



80 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

Would that you would inquire into your true 
character as a sinner, humbly acknowledge it, 
and come to Jesus Christ in the acceptance of his 
offered mercy 1 Would that you would believe on 
him with all your heart, and by faith take hold on 
his hand, that he may guide you into the path of 
hfe 1 

How could the thief on the cross have been 
saved, other than by a plan of mercy like this ? 
He could make no atonement for his sins. All 
that he could do, was to accept the atonement 
made for him, and to cast himself by faith on 
Jesus, crying, '* Lord, remember me, when thou 
comes t into thy kingdom." And how else could 
the penitent Mary have found pardon ? Not by 
her own works of righteousness, for she had none. 
It was through a simple trust in her Saviour, such 
as brought her spirit into one of love and obedience 
to him ; and he said unto her, '' Thy faith hath 
saved thee ; go in peace." 

If you would know by your experience the 
power of this salvation, go to Christ, humbling 
yourself before him in true penitence, and trusting 
for justification in him alone. Say, in the language 
of the expressive hymn, 

" !N"ot the labor of my hands 
Can fulfill thy law^s demands j 



IJ 



JUSTIFICATIOIV BY FAITH. 81 

Could my zeal no respite know, 
Could my tears forever flow, 
All for sin could not atone, 
Tliou must save, and thou alone, 

" JS'othing in my hands I bring 
Simply to thy cross I cling ; 
Naked, come to thee for dress, 
Helpless, look to thee for grace, 
Foul, I to the fountain fly. 
Wash me, Saviour, or I die." 

May you be enabled, through divine grace, in 
sincerity to say. Precious Redeemer, I will walk 
in the strength of thy righteousness, even of thine 
only ; and when I have finished my course on 
earth, receive me to thyself, that I may cast my 
crown before thee, and celebrate the riches of that 
grace which has plucked a guilty sinner from hell, 
and planted his feet on the celestial Zion, the 
glorious mount of God's everlasting praise. 



CHAPTER IX, 

CONVERSION. 

There are various expressions descriptive of that 
spiritual change experienced by man in turning 
into the path of hfe, such as '' born again/' '' new 
creature," " putting off the old and putting on the 
new man," all of which refer to true conversion. 
Our Saviour uses one of the boldest metaphors to 
illustrate it, when he says, '* Except a man be born 
again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
Herein he affirms that the natural man must ex- 
perience as great a change in his spiritual nature, 
to become a Christian, as would be experienced in 
his physical nature, to be created over again, and 
born into a new world. 

The reahty and power of this spiritual change 
are freely attested by the Word of G-od and Chris- 
tian experience. In what then does it consist ? 
Our Saviour distinctly intimated that the new 
birth of which he spake, was of a spiritual nature, 
and such as fitted man to enter the kingdom of 
God. It is not a mere change in outward conduct, 
such as occurs in making a profession of religion, 



CONVERSION. 83 

or in the reception of gospel ordinances, but it is 
a renovation of the moral afifections. Baptism is 
not this change, nor does it necessarily involve it. 
Though a symbol of the Holy Spirit's work in 
regeneration, yet the administration of water has 
no necessary connection with the spiritual cleans- 
ing of the heart ; nor the external symbol, with 
the internal state. Nor is this spiritual change 
one that is originated in the natural or constitu- 
tional powers of the mind ; it involves the creation 
of no new faculties, but a new exercise of the affec- 
tions, followed by a new and holy obedience. 

In conversion, the heart is changed, so that it 
loves God supremely. Beyond this simple fact 
we need not carry our investigations. It adds 
nothing to our knowledge to be told that, in the 
new birth, a principle of holiness is implanted in 
the soul, which is the fountain of ^11 holy affec- 
tions, any more than in natural science, that water 
contains a transparent principle which causes it to 
be transparent, or light a brilliant principle which 
causes it to be brilliant. All that is of any value 
to be known on these subjects is, that water is 
transparent, and light brilHant ; and that, in con- 
version, the rebellious heart of man is changed 
from enmity to love. 

Conversion is not conviction of sin, though this 



84 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

precedes it ; nor is it sanctification, thou^^li this fol- 
lows it ; but it is the spiritual turning of the heart 
imto God, resulting in the establishment of new re- 
lations to hinQ and a new life. It occurs instanta- 
neously ; for there is no perceptible period when 
one is not either a condemned sinner, or else 
justified and saved. 

The power to produce this spiritual change in 
the heart of depraved man, is divine. All con 
verting influences come from the Holy Spirit. They 
proceed not from wicked spirits, nor from the 
world ; nor do they proceed from tendencies 
originated in the unholy heart itself ; but they 
come from God. He sav/ the world in moral ruin, 
and sent his Son to die for sinners, and his Holy 
Spirit to apply to them the cleansing and saving 
benefits of the propitiatory sacrifice. These con- 
verting infiuences all originate in his grace, and are 
impai'ted according to his wisdom. As the world 
of nature is under his control, so is the world of 
grace. How, in effecting his merciful purposes, 
the Holy Spirit operates to change the heart, we 
know not, further than that he makes use of the 
truth. We know the simple fact that such divine 
influences are exerted on the heart, in conversion, 
as to dispose it to obey God. 

There is no discrepancy in the various represea- 



CONVERSION. 85 

tations of the Bible on this subject, when these are 
properly understood. In one connection God says, 
" A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit 
will I put within you ;" and in another, he com- 
mands men, " Make you a new heart and a new 
spirit.'' It is here taught, that God gives con- 
verted sinners their new hearts ; and that sinners, 
in conversion, make them themselves new hearts. 
But these sentiments, when properly explained, 
are not in conflict with each other. 

1. God gives converted sinners their new hearts 
throuofh the divine influences conferred on them 
for their conversion, all of which proceed from 
him. He devised the plan of salvation, provided 
a Saviour, appointed a day of grace, and made the 
proclamation of mercy in the Gospel ; and he 
accompanies these provisions of grace with the 
converting influences of his Holy Spirit. In this 
sense, he is the author of all good, and the source 
of spiritual life in the soul of man. The new heart, 
and all its associate Christian graces, are his gift, 
and are conferred according to his good pleasure. 
As omniscient, he knew from eternity whom his 
grace would reach and save ; these are called his 
elect ; they receive their new hearts from him in 
accordance with his purposes of grace ; and he 
confers on them their new hearts through the 



bb THE PATH OF LIFE. 

powerful operations of bis Holy Spirit imparted 
for tliis purpose. 

2. Converted sinners naake themselves their new 
hearts, by yielding themselves up to God under 
those influences which he exerts upon them for 
their conversion. There is no impropriety in the 
statement that God turns the sinner into the pat!) 
of life, and that the sinner turns into this path ; 
for both these forms of expression are true. When 
it is said that God turns the sinner, it is meant 
that he confers the divine influences productive of 
this result ; and when it is said that the sinner 
turns, it is meant that, under the divine influences, 
he o-oes to God and gives him his heart, believing 
in Jesus. 

This use of language, in the common aflkirs of 
life, is of daily occurrence. A wealthy proprietor 
may point to his mansion as having been built by 
him ; the contractor may do the same ; and the 
carpenters and masons may claim it as their work ; 
and all these claims may be proper in the sense in 
which they were designed to be understood. The 
proprietor furnished the means, and gave the plan 
to a contractor; the contractor undertook the 
work ; and the carpenters and masons were the 
active builders. So we are spiritually God*s 
workmanship. He converts the sinner, or turns 



CONVERSION. 87 

him into the path of life, through his influences 
specially directed to this end; and the sinner, 
under his influences, turns to him. The divine 
and human agencies are thus active and co-opera- 
tive in every instance of conversion. Not that 
there is any goodness in man, or that he is inclined 
to turn of himself, irrespective of the divine inter- 
position ; for he has no more agency in the recep- 
tion of this converting grace than has a beggar in 
putting forth his hand to receive alms. 

God sends his Holy Spirit to effect this work, 
not because man, in the sense of having the natu- 
ral powers and faculties which are requisite for 
this purpose, is not able to turn to God, but be- 
cause he is so averse to God that he will not do 
it, but will inevitably perish without the divine in- 
terposition in his behalf. If man had not the 
natural endowments of a responsible being, it would 
be an act of justice in our Creator to confer them, 
before holding him responsible. But if, when 
amply endowed with these gifts, he will not use 
them aright, it becomes an act of grace in God to 
send his Holy Spirit to operate in his heart, as 
something more than what justice requires. It is 
a mere gratuity on the part of God, not an act of 
justice, thus to confer his converting power. 

The Holy Spirit thus renews the sinner's heart. 



88 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

not by conferring on liim any new powers of intel- 
lect or reason, but by overcoming the tendencies 
of his depravity and elevating his affections to 
God. Under his divine operations, man acts as 
freely, intelligently, and with as much responsibil- 
ity, as in any other conduct of life ; so that his 
turning unto the Lord is as entirely his own act 
as if no such influence had been exerted. While 
the Holy Spirit moves him to obey the Gospel, he 
chooses as freely the path of life as he once did its 
opposite. In the act of turning into this path, all 
the powers of his mind are as active as were those 
of our great progenitor when he put forth his hand 
and took the fruit of the forbidden tree. As the 
turning away from God through distrust of him, 
while under the influence of the devil, was the sin 
by which man fell, so the turning of the heart to 
God throu2:h faith, under the influence of the 
Holy Spirit, is the act by which he is reinstated in 
the enjoyment of the divine friendship. In this 
change of heart, the active powers of the mind are 
stimulated to the highest intensity, and are by our 
Saviour compared, in their exercises, to a struggle 
for the prize in a conflict of physical strength. 
'' Strive," he says, ** to enter in at the strait 
gate." Thus while God is working in man to will 
and io do, man works out his own salvation with 



CONVERSION. 89 

fear and trembling. God is active in conferring 
his gracious gift, and the sinner is active in receiv- 
ing it ; but the merit of it belongs to God ; man is 
only the obliged recipient. 

It is a practical question, how does conversion 
occur, and how may one who is unconverted be- 
come possessed of a new heart ? The scriptural 
teaching on this subject is, by believing in Jesus. 
Said Nicodemus, *' How can these things be ?" 
And when Jesus had rebuked his io-noranceof the 

o 

sacred Scriptures, he proceeded to tell him how 
this spiritual change is effected. '' As Moses lifted 
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son 
of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have eternal life." 
Thousands read this, without thinking of its rela- 
tion to the question of the Counsellor. But can any 
response be more appropriate? It gives us the 
assurance that whoever shall believe in Jesus shall, 
in the very act of believing, experience the moral 
change which has been described. Believing in 
Jesus, and the new birth, are simultaneous. No 
one thus believes who is not converted, and no one 
is converted who does not thus believe, yet these 
effects result from distinct operations of the Holy 
Spirit, and include the active operation of the sin- 
ner's own mind. Believing in Christ is as distinct 



90 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

from this moral change, as looking on the brazen 
serpent was from the healthful change which ac- 
companied it. You need never trouble yourself to 
inquire whether one is regenerated before he be- 
lieves, or believes before he is regenerated ; since 
it is WHEN he believes that he is regenerated, is 
changed in all his general affections, and becomes 
a new creature in Christ. In the very act of look- 
ing to the Saviour by faith, the heart is changed. 
The way to come into possession of a new 
heart, then, is to look by faith to Jesus. This the 
Gospel proclaims as the specific duty of every 
man, and as the only means of his conversion. 
Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, or, the 
true and living way. He is the way to be born 
again, the way to true repentance, the way to 
holy obedience, the way into the path of life and 
to heaven ; and you must enter this path through 
Christ alone, or you must fail to tread it. When 
those in the camp of Israel who had been bitten 
by fiery serpents looked upon the brazen one 
which Moses had set up, a healthful change passed 
over them ; so, under the Gospel, when sinners 
come to Jesus Christ by faith, a spiritual change 
passes over them ; their hearts are renewed after 
the image of God, they become "new crea- 
tures" in Christ Jesus, and they enter, through 



CONVERSION. 91 

Christ, the door into the path of life. To know, 
by your experience, this spiritual change, look by 
faith to this Saviour. Behold " the Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sin of the world !" Believe 
on him ; and in the very act of casting yourself, 
by faith, into his arms, you shall feel the trans- 
forming power of his love. Old things will pass 
away, and all things will become new. 



CHAPTER X. 

SAYING GRACE ILLUSTRATED. 

When Naatnan, the general of the Syrian army, 
came to Elislia to be healed of his leprosy, he was 
told bv the man of God throuo^h his servant to cro 
and wash in Jordan seven times, even as sinners 
under the Gospel are commanded to believe on 
Jesus Christ and they shall be saved. The proud 
general had supposed that Elisha would pay him 
great deference, w^ould come out to him and stand 
and call upon his God, and smite his hand over 
the leprosy and cure it ; and he expected to pay 
him well for his services. But when he found 
that Elisha did not come out to him, but sent a 
servant to tell him to go wash in the river Jordan, 
he was enraged, and would have departed to his 
own land, had not his servants persuaded him to 
a different course. There is a striking analogy 
between the pitiable condition of this leper, the 
means of cure, and the effects which a knowledge 
of these means produced on him, and the state of 
sinners under the Gospel. 

I. As in the case of Naaman, so in that of sin- 



SAVING GRACE ILLUSTRATED. 93 

ners saved througb Jesus Christ, God designs to 

EXALT HIS SOVEREIGN GRACE TO THE ABASEMENT 

OF HUMAN PRIDE. The prophet knew the effect 
which his course toward the leper would have on 
a haughty mind. Neither in his depoi'tment 
toward Naaman, nor in the means of his cure, was 
there any deference paid to the station or dignity 
of the proud generaL A beggar could as easily 
wash himself in Jordan as could Naaman. It was 
evident, therefore, that it was not on account of 
his honorable position, his valor, or his wealth, 
that he received mercy, but that it was of grace 
alone; and this consideration was eminently fitted 
to humble him, and waken in him a suitable 
acknowledgment of the divine mercy. So is the 
plan of redemption in the Gospel such as to dis- 
pense with all human merit as the ground of the 
divine acceptance, and to lead the sinner to ascribe 
the glory of this work to the grace of God alone. 
1. The first effect which the Gospel produces 
on men, as the means of exalting the divine grace, 
is to make them sensible of their ruined and 
HELPLESS CONDITION AS SINNERS. Naamau w^as 
indignant when told to go and bathe in the river 
Jordan ; but when his servants expostulated with 
him, and he began to reflect, he knew that he 
must die a miserable and loathsome leper, unless 
9 



94 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

he availed liimself of this means of cure. He 
knew that there was no other available resource ; 
and he was made to feel, as a leper, his own help- 
lessness and dependence. When, therefore, he 
turned his chariot toward the Jordan, and pro- 
ceeded thither, every step of that way tended to 
deepen these impressions. So the command of 
the Gospel, *' Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved,'' tends to waken in the un- 
converted a consciousness of their moral ruin. 
Saved by their own ^ood works they cannot be. 
And the reason is, that they are already con- 
demned as sinners, and are wholly dependent for 
the remission of their sins on the great atoning 
sacrifice. 'No human aid can reinstate them in 
the divine favor. None but Jesus can cleanse 
away their sins. 

As Naaman was led to feel that his best efforts 
to heal his own malady were impotent, so are 
sinners under the Gospel taught their moral im- 
potence. The fact that they are commanded to 
believe in Jesus for salvation, proclaims their self- 
directed efforts to be of no avail. To wash in Abana 
and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, would not heal 
the leper, but to wash in Jordan would ; so there 
are no means of human devising which can ever 
take the place of those which God has appointed ; 



SAVING GRACE ILLUSTRATED. 95 

and the impression which this fact is fitted to pro- 
duce on the sinner is, to awaken in him a conscious- 
ness of his own moral helplessness and ruin. 

2. Another effect of the Gospel is to bring those 
whom it influences into a humble acknowledg- 
ment OF THE DIVINE GOODNESS, AND LEAD THEM TO 
ASCRIBE THEIR SALVATION TO GRACE ALONE. Na- 

araan was led to perceive that his virtues, or the 
dignity to which he was raised, did not constitute 
any part of the ground on which healing mercy 
was bestowed. So are sinners, saved through 
Christ, led to view the divine grace alone as their 
only hope. When Naaman had come up the 
seventh time from the Jordan, and his flesh had 
begun to come again as the flesh of a little child, 
he could not have felt that he had done anything 
to merit healing mercy nor to purchase it, but was 
compelled to acknowledge the power of Israel's 
God, conferred without money and without price ; 
and it kindled in him a desire to make some suit- 
able return to the prophet, as a manifestation of 
gratitude for the part he had performed in this 
work. And this is the effect which the Gospel 
plan of mercy, through a Saviour, is designed to 
produce on the heart of the converted sinner. It is 
fitted to make him feel that it is not for any merit 
in himself, but of grace alone, that he is saved ; 



yo THE PATH OF LIFE. 

and it prompts in him a desire to manifest his 
gratitude to God for the mercy shown him, by a 
life of unfeigned obedience. Thus it is that we 
are won over to God, to hate our past sins, and to 
yield ourselves up to him forever. These are the 
proper effects of the Gospel, and which God de- 
signs. He thus humbled the pride of Xaaman, 
and he abases all pride, that he may recover his 
sway over the aflfections of ruined man, and recover 
him from his lost condition, into the path of life. 

II. As in the case of Naaman, so in that of sin- 
ners, it is true that the state of heart required 
in them for the experience of mercy, is the real 

GROUXD OF THEIR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE MEAXS 

PROPOSED, and of their necrject of them. As the 
prophet's directions to Naaman were different 
from what he had reason to expect, so are the di- 
rections of the Gospel diflferent from the precon- 
ceived plans of human wisdom, and are fitted to 
brino^ mankind into an humblino^ sense of their de- 
pendence on the divine grace. The Gospel thus 
abases human wisdom, and with it man. It tends 
to counteract his emotions of natural pride, and to 
teach him that, if ever saved, God is to direct the 
method of his mercy. '' I thought,'' said Naaman, 
** that he would surely come over to me, and stand 
and call on the name of his God, and strike his 



SAVING GRACE ILLUSTRATED. 



97 



hand over the place and recover the leper.'^ Poor 
man ! He had come to receive the greatest bless- 
ing at the hands of God, and yet was not wilHng 
to accept it through the channel which he had 
appointed; but he wished to dictate the method 
of its bestowal, and perhaps to take credit to him- 
self for having given a right direction to omnipo- 
tent power. God would permit no such inter- 
ference with his wisdom : it filled him with rage. 
So when convicted sinners feel their need of mercy, 
they often endeavor to plan a different method of 
cure from that divinely appointed. They wish to 
do what they think best to secure the blessing, at 
the same time neglecting to obey the plain com- 
mand of God. And often, when they have re- 
solved, read, prayed, and wept, having sought sal- 
vation in dependence on their own good works, and 
found it not, because they have not done that 
which God required of them, they are indignant. 
Then their enmity rises toward God, and they 
turn away from the Gospel with unfeigned scorn. 
The plan of grace through Jesus Christ, opposes 
the natural current of inclination in the uncon- 
verted, and is eminently fitted to humble their 
pride ; and this is a source of the inveterate dis- 
like which they sometimes feel toward it. No 
one loves to feel the consciousness of his own 
9* 



08 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

guilt. But the Gospel plan of salvation brings 
the sinner to the point where he must confess and 
forsake his sins, if ever saved ; and it is hard for 
one who has ever indulged a persuasion of his own 
moral goodness, to be required to view himself in 
the mirror of God's perfect law, and on his knees 
to tell God what a guilty creature he is, how he 
has lived in the rejection of his mercy, and how 
unworthy he is of the divine notice or compassion. 
How can the moral youth, the honorable mer- 
chant, the respected lawyer, the skillful artificer, 
the dignified statesman, the man who has hitherto 
gloried in his wisdom and risen high in the estima- 
tion of others, take the place of a rebel at the 
footstool of grace, and humbly sue for mercy there? 
0, it is hard, because pride opposes it ; and the 
requisition of repentance, as indispensable to for- 
giveness, tends to waken the bitter enmity of the 
heart against the simple method of salvation which 
the Gospel proposes. 

God, in the system of his grace, dispenses with 
all human merit, and requires faith in Christ as 
the only ground of justification. But no man 
loves to feel indebted to another; and it is hard 
for a proud heart to come down into the dust and 
accept as a favor the gift purchased through the 
sufferings of Christ. Often does it turn away in 



SAVING GRACE ILLUSTRATED. 99 

scorn from this method of mercy. *' Are not 
Abana and Pharpa, rivers of Damascus, better 
than all the waters of Israel ?" is the language of 
its pride ; *' May I not wash in them and be clean ?" 
May I not do something acceptable to God, and 
thus provide my own atonement ? is the sinner's 
feeling. Must I be indebted to Christ alone ? . 
May I not myself do some great thing which will 
deserve for me salvation, and enrol my name in 
the book of life ? No, poor sinner, you cannot. 
If ever saved, it must be by renouncing such vain 
efforts and reposing your burdened soul on Christ. 
Is it hard for you to do this ? It is so only be- 
cause it is so easy, and leaves you so little to do 
in the work of your salvation. And pride would 
not have it thus. 

The plan of the Gospel requires the heart to be 
surrendered to God, and the subordination of its 
desires to his most holy will. This too is a rea- 
sonable duty and an easy one, to those who feel 
right. But the convicted sinner is not pleased 
with it. Must he give up his sinful pleasures, 
subdue his lusts, and henceforth have no will but 
God's ? He feels that it is a '' hard saying ;" and 
in the full consciousness of the consequences, he 
often turns away in anger from the duty set before 
him in the Gospel. 



100 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

Do you wish to be saved ? Behold then God's 
plan of mercy through faith in a crucified Saviour ! 
From this plan do not turn away. I^ever can you 
enter into the path of life, but through Christ, the 
door. You must bring your pride, your worldli- 
ness, your sins, and your resistance of God, and 
lay them all down at the threshold, thei'e parting 
forever with everything which conflicts with su- 
preme devotion to the Redeemer. Think of K'aa- 
man as he descended into the Jordan. Could that 
stream which" flowed so beautifully along cleanse 
away his leprosy ? It did. He obeyed the word 
of life, and came up from the bank of that river a 
new man. No sooner did he submit to the means 
of cure which God had ordained, than '' his flesh 
came ae^ain like the flesh of a little child." So must 
you submit to the plan of mercy revealed in the 
Gospel, and come to God through Jesus Christ. 
You must cast yourself before him, in the con- 
fession of your sins, and accepting his pardoning 
mercy as a free gift. You must come as a beggar, 
having nothing in your hand to purchase this 
mercy, nothing to plead, and feehng that you are 
dependent on sovereign grace alone. You must 
be willing to feel indebted for your salvation 
wholly to grace, so that your future life may be 
one of grateful devotion to God for his unnum- 
bered benefits. 



CHAPTER XI. 

MOTIVES TO IMMEDIATE SUBMISSION. 

It is your duty and privilege to be a Christian. 
It is a privilege conferred on you, as one of the lost 
race for whom a Saviour has been provided, and 
to whom the Gospel, with its blessed invitations, is 
sent. I come to entreat you by a consciousness of 
the wrong done to God by your delay to return 
unto him, and a regard for your own immortal 
happiness, now to yield your heart up to God, 
through faith in the Redeemer. If you are ever 
saved, there must come a period when you will de- 
liberately resolve to press into the path of life, and 
will proceed at once to carry out this resolution in 
practice. Your sinful heart must submit itself to 
God, or you cannot see his face in peace. And 
now he makes an appeal to you, whether you will 
not seize the present opportunity to settle the 
great question of your immortal welfare without 
further delay. 

Are you not fully convinced of your own sin- 
fulness in having loved the world and its pleasures 
more than God ? Are you not satisfied that your 



102 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

thoughts and desires are far from that moral pu- 
rity and holiness which God approves ? Are you 
not conscious of having made repeated efforts to 
shake off conviction and banish the thoughts of a 
judgment to come ? Have you not often consented 
to procrastinate the subject of personal religion, 
although it has been urged upon your attention in 
the most affecting manner ? Do not innumerable 
sins oppress you, and does not conscience some- 
times whisper to your inmost soul, This guilty 
sinner is advancing to meet his final judge, laden 
with iniquities unrepented of, and without an in- 
terest in the cleansincr blood of Christ, which can 
take his sins away ? 

Are you not conscious of the futihty of your past 
endeavors, and the vanity of your future hopes ? 
Are you not conscious that your only safety con- 
sists in the immediate consecration of yourself to 
him who died for you ; and aware that if you no<v 
procrastinate your duty, the time may come, unex- 
pectedly, when it will be too late to find the mercy 
which you need ? You may judge that it will be 
easy to recover your serious impressions, if once 
banished ; but you deceive yourself on this point. 
Have you never read the language of God where 
he says, " Then shall they call upon me, but I will 
not answer ; they shall seek me early, but they 
shall not find me." 



MOTIVES «^0 SUBMISSION. 103 

Once deliberately banish your serious impres- 
sions, and grieve the Holy Spirit away, and what 
assurance have you that they will ever return ? 
Does the constant indulgence of worldly passions, 
till they have strengthened themselves into habits, 
render them easier to be abandoned ? Is the 
heart more readily cured of its love for the world, 
by yielding itself up to the supreme control of 
worldly affections ? If you drive away the serious 
impressions which now prompt you to flee to 
Christ, do you not deliberately say to God, Depart 
from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy 
way ? 

The delay of conversion in your case results from 
your active preference of the world to God, which 
it is the aim of the Holy Spirit to remove. Cer- 
tain it is, that without his divine aid, you will never 
renounce the world for Christ, Unless the Holy 
Spirit do accompany the truth to your heart, we 
have no more expectation of your conversion than 
we have of persuading the slumbering dead to 
rise. So decided is the natural alienation of your 
heart from God, that we have no other depend- 
ence but on his almighty interposition in your be- 
half. Will you grieve him then away, by treating 
him with marked indifference and nes^lectino' his 
kind offices ? 0, who can succor you, if you re- 



104 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

nounce the help of God ? If you now decline 
from the path of your duty when you know what 
it is, and yield not to the invitations of the Gospel, 
you may presently reach a position where omni- 
potence itself cannot consistently interpose in your 
behalf. When you shall have hardened yourself 
against the mercy of God, can you reasonably ex- 
pect any other fate than that he should abandon 
you as he did Ephraim, of whom he said, *' He is 
joined to his idols, let him alone/' 

But now, the door into the path of life is open, 
the Saviour invites you to come to him, the Holy 
Spirit is ready to guide you and save you through 
his regenerating power ; and now you have the 
opportunity, which may soon be gone. Do not, 
then, withhold your heart from Christ. Are you 
afraid to go to him, because you are conscious of 
your numerous sins, and fearful that Christ will 
not accept you ? You need not indulge such un- 
believinsr fears. You may confide in him with 
your whole heart, love him with the most ardent 
affection, and cast yourself by faith into his arms. 
You need never fear that Christ will be offended 
at your presumption, for it was to save sinners 
that he came into the world. And though you 
were the most wicked wretch that ever lived, 
though you had incurred a dreadful load of guilt, 



MOTIVES TO SUBMISSION. 105 

yet it is the testimony of his Word that '*th^ 
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
Believe in him, yielding him up your heart, and 
you shall experience the power of his love. And 
when, as descriptive of your feelings, you can say 
in the language of that affecting hymn, 

" Welcome, welcome, dear Redeemer, 
Welcome to this heart of mine, 
Lord, I make a full surrender, 

Every power and thought be thine, 

Thine entirely. 
Through eternal ages thine," 

you will feel that Christ is yours, and there will 
be joy in the presence of the angels of God, over 
a sinner that repenteth. 



10 



CHAPTER XII. 

DIFFICULTIES REMOVED. 

Often, at the very point of submission, temp- 
tations arise to lead off the inquiring sinner's 
thoughts from his duty. One of the most com- 
mon devices of the tempter is, to persuade him 

THAT HE DOES NOT YET FEEL ENOUGH TO COME TO 

Christ. He is conscious of his guilt, and need 
of mercy, but does not have that peculiar intensity 
of conviction which he imagines to be necessary 
to conversion. 

This arises from a misconception of ihe way to 
Christ. It is exceedingly difficult to espel the 
thought that his salvation depends on the depth 
and intensity of his convictions ; whereas it is the 
nature of the conviction, not its depth, which 
manifests a genuine work of grace. If God 
should display to one the imminence of his spirit- 
ual danger, and open to his mind hell with all its 
terrors, it might kindle in his bosom emotions of 
dreadful fear. But it would not convert him. 
1^0 one was ever converted merely through a 



DIFFICULTIES REMOVED. 107 

fear of hell. It is the love of Christ, ss presented 
to view through the cross, which is the great 
means of subduing the heart to penitence. ISTo 
rebel was ever won to God through an exhibi- 
tion of his terrible and punitive power ; but h-e 
is won through the influences of the cross. The 
one may indeed rouse the mind to consideration, 
but it is the other which excites its love and confi- 
dence. " The goodness of God leadeth thee to 
repentance.'' 

All the terrors of the law which might concen- 
trate themselves on the mind, could not produce 
any but a forced submission ; nor ^ there a spirit- 
ual virtue in the experience of such terrors. They 
render one no better prepared to come to Christ 
than if they had not been felt. They are not of 
the nature of true conviction, which is a feeling 
of the wrong and injury done by sin against a holy 
and just God; and he who is conscious of this 
wrong, has all the conviction and feeling he needs 
to enable him to come to Christ in true submission. 
Never will Jesus refuse to accept a soul which is 
willing to confide in him as a Saviour; nor should 
any feeling of distrust on this account prevent 
one for a moment from yielding up to him his 
heart. Even if the horror felt on account of 
sin were as powerful and enduring as is that of 



108 



THE PATH OF LIFE. 



tlie lost in tlie world of despair, it would do 
nothing toward accelerating his faith in Christ, 
or to render him more acceptable to him than he 
now is. 

It is another difficulty sometimes suggested, 

THAT ONE CANNOT COME TO ChRIST OF HIMSELF. 

Having, as he thinks, done all that he can to secure 
his own conversion, the convicted sinner settles 
down in the persuasion that the Holy Spirit must 
do the rest. He thus solaces himself with the 
thought that he is waiting at the Gospel pool, and 
ready to be healed whenever God shall send his 
angel and trouljje the water. All this is very ab- 
surd and dangerous. He has reached a point 
where he should submit to God ; but instead of 
going over to Him in true submission, he expects 
God to come over to him a«d treat him as a par- 
doned child before he submits. But how absurd 
would it have been for an Israelite bitten by a 
fiery serpent, when commanded to look upon the 
brazen serpent set up by Moses, to have respond- 
ed, " I am w^aiting God's time ;" or to have said, 
'' If it is determined that I shall be saved I shall 
be, and if not, I cannot help it;'' or to have replied, 
^' I cannot come of myself." That God had com- 
manded the Israelites to look and live, was a suf- 
ficient guaranty that if they would but comply 



DIFFICULTIES REMOVED. 109 

with the directions which had been given, they 
would experience healing naercy. So in respect 
to the commands of the Gospel. Sinners, if- they 
will but go forward in obedience to God, have a 
right to expect all that gracious assistance which 
they need to enable them to do what he com- 
mands them. That they cannot go to Christ of 
themselves, is therefore a frivolous excuse ; for 
they cannot do anything of themselves, but are 
wholly dependent on God for power to will and 
to do in respect to all their daily avocations. 
And it is a well established principle of the divine 
government, that in all the commands of the sacred 
Scriptures involving our duty, there is implied a 
guaranty of that gracious aid from him which we 
need to enable us to obey those commands. So 
that the sinner is wholly without excuse, if he de- 
cline obedience or fail to be tremblingly solicitous 
for his own salvation while God is working in him 
to will and do of his good pleasure. 

Another difficulty respects the divine purposes. 

I MAY NOT BE ELECTED TO SALVATION, it is Said, 

and how then can I come to Christ ? A careful 
examination of this point will show that for all 
who come to the Saviour there is room. God is 
consistent with himself, and he cannot have a 
secret purpose which conflicts with those which 
10* 



110 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

are revealed. What then, as the great principle 
of his action on this subject, has he revealed ? Is 
it not that he will save all who come to him 
through Jesus Christ ? Why then should one 
set up the electing love of God as a bugbear, 
when it is plain that he who comes to Christ, be- 
lieving in him, may know this love by his own 
experience ? The difficulty is not in the divine 
purposes, but in the perverted views taken of 
them ; and these perversions you must renounce 
in humble obedience of Christ, or you cannot be 
saved. 

Another difficulty arises from an anxious desire 

to KNOW THAT HE IS ACCEPTED of God bcforC he 

has given him his heart. This is a common error. 
Having reached a certain point of conviction, the 
sinner is often disposed to wait for the e^erience 
of religion before yielding himself up to God. 
But to do this is a great mistake ; for it is impos- 
sible for one to know what religion is before he 
experiences it, or to feel the joys of pardon before 
he is forgiven. 

I AM AFRAID THAT ChRIST WILL NOT RECEIVE ME, 

expresses another difficulty frequently met with 
in the unconverted. So conscious of his own un- 
worthiness is he, as to feel a distrust of Christ's 
willingness and power to save. But why should 



DIFFICULTIES REMOVED. Ill 

he thus distrust Christ ? Is it not evidently an 
impeachment of his divine character to do so, 
when he has given such clear manifestations of his 
readiness to save unto the uttermost all who come 
unto God by him ? Can the Saviour be pleased 
with this want of confidence in him ? Far from 
it. He is most honored in being treated as one 
who is able to save the vilest of men. 

What ground is there for indulging the pre- 
tence that Christ is not able and willing to save ? 
Does this thought disturb you ? It is the offspring 
of unbelief — the very sin for which you are con- 
demned. It is because you will not confide in the 
integrity of his word, that you delay to come to 
him. Banish, then, all such guilty fears ; come just 
as you are, oppressed and burdened with your 
sins ; and make a cheerful surrender to. him of 
your whole heart. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DELAY INADMISSIBLE. 

When the sacred Scriptures teach that ''now is 
the accepted time," they point to the present mo- 
ment as the most favorable opportunity to settle 
the great question of return to God, by an imme- 
diate surrender of the heart to him. It refers to 
the allotted period of grace which each individual 
has under the Gospel; or the application may be 
still more specific, as when, during this allotted 
period, there is a combination of circumstances 
conducing to the awakening and conversion of the 
soul, and which give intenisity to the opportunity 
expressed by "now." If you were condemned to 
death, and the "day of your execution fixed, it 
w^ould be highly approj)riate for the minister of 
Christ, in addressing you, to say that now is the 
accepted time; and this is the very thought de- 
signed to be expressed by it in the Word of God. 
There is not an individual who knows wnth certain- 
ty that his heart will continue to beat a minute 
longer; all that he can know., without an express 



DELAY INADMISSIBLE. 113 

revelation, is, that it is beating now, and that now 
he enjoys the opportunity to come to Christ and 
be saved through faith in his name. 

Suppose that you were upon the broad ocean in 
a tight and safe ship, and felt that there was no 
danger ; yet how long might it be before the ship, 
by the accidents of the sea, might become leaky and 
sinking ? A single tremendous wave adversely 
striking it, might instantly imperil the lives of all 
on board. Or a storm arising, might compel the 
the mariner to put his craft before the wind and 
to press on with all the sail he could carry, to 
weather some point of land, beyond which there 
was sea-room and safety. Suppose that the effort 
fails, and, driven by the gale upon an iron-bound 
shore, the ship is dashed upon the breakers. Sup- 
pose that while all on board are crowded upon 
deck, or into the shrouds, and are lashing them- 
selves to the mast for safety, help should present 
itself from the rocky cliff above, and friends should 
appear with the means to cast a rope over the 
ship, by which to attach a hawser to the shore, 
and thus provide a safe egress for the endangered 
crew. And now they cast the rope, but not a 
hand is extended to seize it. There is a lull of 
the storm and a favorable opportunity, and again 
the rope is cast, while from the shore the cry is 



114: THE PATH OF LIFE. 

heard, ''j^ow is your opportunity, seize that rope 
or you are lost." But not a hand is extended, for 
one says to another, There is no need of alarm ; the 
ship is still sound, and there is time enough yet. 
Again the effort from the shore is renewed; the 
warning voice reaches their ears, that the storm 
is only lulled, and will soon return with redoubled 
violence ; yet they will not heed it, till presently 
it comes, the sea rolls in upon them with tremen- 
dous waves, and, amid the crashing timbers of 
the ship, all find a watery grave. 

What infatuation! you are ready to exclaim. 
It is admitted that it is so. But is it not that 
very infatuation under which you are acting, who 
will not seize the precious opportunity you enjoy 
to save your soul ? No one can anticipate his 
fate by the appearances which now surround him. 
The sun will rise as clear and beautiful on the day 
of your death as it ever does; the flowers will bloom 
as sweetly, the birds will sing as merrily, and na- 
ture will wear as gay an aspect as if you were not 
dying to be lost. Suppose that you should lie 
down this night in confident certainty that you 
should see the light of the morning sun ; and that 
during the hours of slumber the monarch of the 
grave should approach your bed and steal your 
life away, and that you should awake, to find 



DELAY INADMISSIBLE. 115 

yourself in the spirit world and before God your 
Judge, and were inquired of by him, why you 
have not availed yourself of the mercy offered in 
the Gospel ? What would you respond ? You 
could not plead that you had not sufficient oppor- 
tunity, or that you did not know your imminent 
peril. And are you not standing on the brink of 
this eternal ruin, and exposed to fall by death into 
tlie grave of the hopeless and the lost, through your 
delay to come to the Saviour? "What prevents 
you from this doom ? Whose arm upholds you ? 
Is it not the kind arm of Jesus, who waiteth to be 
gracious, and who is even now bidding you come 
to him? 

Suppose that when you have read this chapter 
and laid down the book, you should never take it up 
again, because summoned to the gloomy prison of 
the lost, what think you would you read upon 
those walls ? Not oaths and blasphemies, but some 
of the sweetest texts of holy writ you ever read 
or listened to. You would read upon one tablet, in 
letters of burning fire, " It is a faithful saying and 
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came 
the world to save sinners;" on another, "Where- 
fore he is able to save unto the utmost all that 
come unto God by him;'' and on another, "He that 
seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall 



116 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

be opened." These tablets represent memory. 
You would remember and never forget their pre- 
cious truths. 

On every side you would read the suggestive 
words ** Now is the accepted time ;" and while you 
should read, your thoughts would trouble you, 
sighs would agitate your breast, while the lan- 
guage of self-reproach and sorrow would burst from 
your lips: that I had acted under the im- 
pressions I once felt, and gone to Jesus without 
delay. I fully purposed then to come, but the 
moment fled. I neglected the opportunity, -and 
here I am. Who can restore to me my forfeited 
blessings ? How can I endure the thought that 
all is lost, through my own folly, and that there 
is nothing in anticipation before me but endless 
exclusion from the happiness of the blessed ? 
for a drop of water to cool my parched tongue, 
** for I am tormented in this flame !" eternity ! 
eternity ! how can I endure the sorrows which are 
embosomed in thine endless round of years and 
ages, unnumbered, infinite ? 

But you have not yet come into these trying 
circumstances. You yet live, and merciful are the 
invitations extended to you from the eternal throne. 
You are in the full enjoyment of blessings which 
may be gone in a moment ; and yet you delay to 



DELAY INADMISSIBLE. 117 

come to Christ. If you could have any good rea- 
son for this delay for a day, or an hour even, you 
might be justified in neglecting altogether your 
gracious opportunity ; but it is the testimony of 
the Gospel, that such delay is inadmissible, and 
that he who delays assumes to himself the respon- 
sibility of continuing to live an enemy to God, and 
of dying under his curse. I remember once pro- 
posing the inquiry to a young man, under deep 
conviction, Do you now determine to choose God 
as your portion, and to seek him until you shall 
find him ? His reply w^as, I do not know that I 
am willing to assume that responsibility. But 
you forget, said I, the responsibility which you are 
wiUing to assume, — that of disowning God still 
longer, and by your disobedience proclaiming him 
unworthy to reign over you. You forget that 
you assume the responsibility of still longer reject- 
ing Christ, and of grieving the Holy Spirit, You 
forget that you assume the responsibility of 
longer risking your everlasting happiness, by your 
unwillingness to do what is right. And which of 
these responsibilities are you willing to assume ? 
Which is most wortliy of you as a man, and which 
most honorable to your Maker, to determine to 
choose him as your portion and give him up your 
heart, or to determine now to turn away from 

11 



118 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

him ? He seemed bowed in thought and in prayer ; 
and, before the hour had passed away, found that 
peace which springs from true submission. 

This presents to view the point at issue between 
your duty and conscience. God says, My son, 
my daughter, give me thine heart. And what is 
your responsibiUty in the case ? It is that of de- 
ciding the great question, whether you will yield 
yourself to him or not. While you know the truth, 
while the Holy Spirit is striving with you, while 
you have the opportunity, the great point for you 
to settle is, whether you will come as you are to 
the Saviour, and trust in him alone for justificatioUj^ 
giving him up your heart, or whether you will 
assume the responsibility of delay ? 

If you put aside the claims of God now, you 
may by this neglect put them forever beyond your 
reach. Do not risk these tremendous consequences. 
Do not suflfer the present moment to pass away 
without turning with your whole heart unto God. 
Think how many prayers have been offered in 
your behalf. Have you a pious father or mother, 
on earth or in heaven ? Have you a pious brother, 
sister, or friend, anxious for your salvation ? Do 
not discourage their hearts by your delay. Do 
not injure anid grieve God. Think of his kindness. 
Think of the motives and influences to persuade 



DELAY INADMISSIBLE. 119 

you to come to Christ now, and of the responsi- 
bility which you will assume by delay, and arise 
and go to your Father. Do not yield your eyes to 
slumber till you have first yielded yourself up to 
God. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



FAITH IN CHRIST. 



m 



Faith in Jesus Christ is, in the Gospel, associ- 
ated with repentance, and is there set forth as es- 
sential to salvation. Faith, in its general accepta- 
tation, is the assent of the mind to whatever is 
affirmed as true ; but faith in Jesus Christ is pecu- 
liar and distinctive. It is more than a mere acknow- 
ledgment of the divine character of the Saviour, 
that he is the Son of God, that he became incar- 
nate, died, rose again, ascended to heaven, and 
ever liveth to make intercession ; for all this may- 
be credited as true, and yet the heart not trust in 
him. It is more than to believe in the virtue of 
his atoning sacrifice, in his ability and wilHngness 
to save all who come unto him, and that if we 
trust in him he will save us. Faith in Jesus Christ 
consists in our receiving and resting upon him 
alone for salvation, as he is oflfered to us in the 
Gospel. It implies not only a conviction that he 
is able to save us, if we come to him, but an actual 
coming to him, and yielding up to him our heart. 

1^0 one will do this who does not feel conscious 



FAITH IN CHRIST. 121 

of his spiritual infirmities. A physician may have 
a good reputation for skill ; but unless one is sen- 
sible of his infirmity, he will not apply to him. 
Neither will one come to Christ, unless sensible of 
his ruined condition as a sinner ; for *'the whole 
need not a physician, but they that are sick.'' Faith 
in Christ, therefore, implies in the subject of it a 
consciousness of his own spiritual need. When he 
beheves in the Saviour, he does it under the full 
conviction of his moral ruin, and his need of just 
such a Saviour as the Gospel ofi'ers him. 

So also does faith imply in the subject of it a 
conviction of his own helplessness ; and that he 
cannot, by any good resolutions, promises, or 
prayers, or by any other means of his own devis- 
ing, remove the moral malady which oppresses 
him. No one will seek aid from a physician if he 
feel that he can heal himself. Nor will the con- 
victed sinner apply to Christ, and trust in hira 
alone for salvation, unless sensible that his sins 
have destroyed him, and that there is no hope for 
him but through the great atoning sacrifice. 

Faith also includes the resting of the guilty soul 
on Christ, as on one able to satisfy the demands of 
the law in its stead, and release it from condem- 
nation. It is a spiritual act of confidence, expressed 
by casting one's self into his arms for refuge, as a 
11* 



122 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

little child/in view of danger, rushes into the arras 
of a kind parent. 

This heartfelt confidence in C hrist is associate 
with a spirit of true obedience. He who commits 
his case to a physician, follows his prescriptions ; 
and he who yields his heart up to Christ in hum- 
ble faith, assumes his will as the guide of his ac- 
tions. He looks to Christ as his refuge, his deliv- 
erer, his friend ; he takes hold on his hand and 
cheerfully walks with him in the path to heaven. 
This receiving and resting on Christ for salvation 
is saving faith. 

But how is this faith connected with salvation ? 
It is, by appropriating to the miserable and lost in 
sin a better righteousness than their own, for the 
sake of which they may be justified, and by con- 
forming the heart, with its afiections, to the moral 
image of the Saviour, thus fitting it for heaven. 

We have already shown that it is through faith 
in Jesus Christ that the sinner is justified, and 
becomes a partaker of the benefits of that right- 
eousness which Jesus hath wrought out for him 
by his obedience and death. Nor is this all. 
Faith brings the soul into a state of new and 
holy obedience, and thus, in its effect on the sin- 
ner himself, includes everything essential to his 
salvation. It wakens in the soul those holy afifec- 



I 



FAITH IN CHRIST. 123 

tions which constitute the moral image of God, 
lost by the apostacy, and thus recovers it from the 
power of sin, to the holiness and happiness of 
Eden. As it was by the distrust of God that 
man originally fell, so it is by faith that he is re- 
covered. That confidence in God which has been 
lost, but which is the essential element of true re- 
ligion, could have never inspired^the heart of fall- 
en man, without the divine interposition. For so 
great and glorious is Jehovah, so terrible in his 
justice, as to fill the mind of the guilty sinner 
with terrible fear, rather than confidence. The 
sinner could have no feeling of trust in such a 
being. He could expect nothing but judgment 
and punishment. It was necessary that God 
should interfere in his mercy, to unfold to view 
his character as gracious and ready to forgive, to 
gain the sinner's confidence. This he did when 
he gave his only begotten Son to die for sinners. 
Here, through this sacrifice of love, he has 
evinced his kind feelings to men, and his readi- 
ness to have mercy on them and save them. He 
here meets the sinner with such evidences of 
compassion for him, such overwhelming manifes- 
tations of love, as are fitted to move and melt the 
heart, and to lead that heart to turn to him in 
repentance ; and he calls upon the guilty world 



124 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

to look upon the cross, and no longer doubt the 
intensity of his desires for the salvation of the 
perishing and lost of our race. 

And what is the effect of this display of good- 
ness upon the wanderer from God ? He looks, 
and while he gazes on the bloody scene of Cal- 
vary, his heart is touched. The tears flow down 
his cheeks at this evidence of God's goodness, as 
connected in his thoughts with his own ingrati- 
tude. He can no longer withhold his sympathies. 
Was it for me, he asks, that God's own Son en- 
dured such horrid agonies ? Was it to redeem 
and save my soul ? how ungrateful I have 
been ! How guilty and ]ost 1 am ! This is just 
the Saviour that I need. He is worthy of my 
confidence. I can safely trust myself in the 
hands of such a Redeemer. I can, I do believe 
on him. Take my heart ; take all I have ; 
Saviour, I give myself away to thee for evermore. 

Where now is that hard heart, which so long 
resisted the motives of the Gospel ? It is gone. 
That heart is won to Christ ; and, confiding in 
the Saviour, the sinner is led back to God, and 
reconciled. Faith in Christ is the means of re- 
newing^ his lost confidence in God. It is the 
Gospel remedy ; a means to an end ; the very 
remedy which the lost sinner needs, to be recov- 



•FAITH IN CHRIST. 125 

ered back to God's friendship. Through trusting 
in Christ, the sinner is enabled to approach God 
in confidence, and to look up to him in the spirit 
of adoption, crj^ing Abba, Father. 

The Gospel itself is a remedy. It may be 
compared to the splints, bandages, and crutches, 
applied to a broken limb, to enable one to hobble 
till he can walk. The great end of redemption is 
complete restoration to holiness. And it is 
through faith in Jesus Christ that this holiness 
commences in the soul, the soul itself brought 
into a state of reconciliation to God, and the be- 
liever led on from step to step, overcoming the 
power of sin within him, till final victory and 
heaven are attained. Faith thus becomes the 
means of salvation. 

The soul in its affections and interests is by faith 
so united to Christ as to participate in the bene- 
fits of his atoning sacrifice. It thus becomes in- 
vested v/ith the Saviour's own righteousness, is re- 
leased from condemnation, and inspired with hope. 
The heart, with its affections, is changed. Dis- 
trust yields to faith. This faith all who are ever 
saved must possess. Is it yours ? Do you now be- 
lieve on the Son of God ? Does your soul, in a 
sprit of submissive obedience, rest on him alone ? 



CHAPTER XV, 



REPENTANCE. 



It is an established truth of the Gospel, that 
repentance is necessary to forgiveness. Repent- 
ance toward God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and a life of new and holy obedience, include those 
practical operations of grace which impart to the 
regenerated soul satisfactory evidence of conver- 
sion. It is important, therefore, to have a dis- 
tinct apprehension of what repentance is. 

Repentance presupposes the facts of the Gospel, 
affectinfj the character and condition of fallen 
man, to be true. It assumes that mankind in their 
natural state are alienated from God, condemned 
by his righteous law, and are pressing on in the 
path of disobedience to death. Repentance in- 
cludes a turning from this dangerous path into 
that of hfe. It is *'a saving grace, whereby a 
sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehen- 
sion of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with 
grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, 



REPENTANCE. 127 

with full purpose of heart, and endeavors after new 
obedience.'' To discover whether or not you pos- 
sess this grace, take up its beveral qualities as 
here set forth, and with them compare your heart 
and hfe. 

1. A TRUE SENSE OF SIN IS essential to re- 
pentance, and it is here described as the moving 
spring of that turning unto God which repentance 
includes. No one will ever repent, unless he 
knows and feels himself to be a sinner. It is not 
enough to feel that he belongs to a sinful race ; 
it is necessary that he should feel deeply sen- 
sible of his guilt. How else can his repentance 
be genuine ? And here it is that many fail, be- 
cause they are ignorant of the wickedness of their 
own hearts. Prompted by the consideration that 
religion is something to be sought, they go seek- 
ing in the dark after that of which they have no 
distinct conception. Perceiving that those who 
are savingly converted go to God in prayer, and 
give attendance on the duties of religion, they do 
the same ; and they depend on what they do to 
give them acceptance with God ; for they know 
not what to seek, and have no proper conception 
of what their salvation requires. 

But in true repentance, the fact of one's own 
sinfulness is distinctly perceived. The repentant 



128 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

sinner sees that he has wandered from God and 
abused his goodness, and that nothing but a 
wicked spirt of disobedience could have originated 
the sins of his past hfe. He feels that he is with- 
out excuse for having treated so wrongfully the 
kindest and best of beings, the benefactor who 
has conferred upon him innumerable blessings, 
the Saviour who has redeemed him, and the Holj 
Spirit sent to convert his soul. He feels that his 
sins justly deserve punishment, committed as they 
have been against a holy and just God; and that, 
treated according to his desert, he would be forever 
cast away. He feels that his heart, in its inclina- 
tions, is opposed to God, and has been so all his life 
hitherto, and it is the language of his humble con- 
fession, '' Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.'* 

This is what is meant by a true sense of sin. 
This sensibleness of its evil, as committed against 
a holy and just God, is necessary to repentance. 
A child, unless conscious of the wrong done his 
parent by disobedience, cannot properly repent of 
that wrong. So must the sinner know and feel 
his sin to be a wronsr done to God, deservinor his 
just displeasure, or he cannot repent of it. 

2. In repentance, and as necessary to its exer- 
cise, there is included an apprehension or th^ 

DIVINE MERCY. 



REPENTANCE. 129 

An apprehension of mercy is a clear perception 
of the fact that God is able consistently to grant 
the forgiveness of sins to all who humbly turn 
unto him. This is necessary to repentance. ISTo 
one will ever penitently turn from his sins to God^ 
who is not influenced by the consideration of 
mercy provided through a Saviour. Separate 
from such a consideration, the terrors of hell 
threatened against the wicked would tend only to 
drive them to despair, not to win and subdue 
their hearts. The idea of a compulsory repent- 
ance is preposterous. The heart must be won, 
if it ever yield itself up to God. And it is the 
view of the divine mercy, through the cross, 
which makes the sinner feel his own intrinsic vile- 
ness, and brings him into an attitude of mind to 
receive forgiveness. 

He who distrusts the ability and willingness of 
Christ to save, or feels himself to be too great a 
sinner to experience mercy, cannot, while in such 
a state of mind, repent. He must abandon all 
such distrust. He must feel assured that he 
is not beyond the reach of heaven's mercy, or 
else despair would seize his mind, and all his 
efforts be paralyzed. The perception of mercy is 
necessary to fire the soul with ardor, and give it 
activity in seeking salvation. Have you a dis- 
12 



130 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

tinct perception _of this mercy? Have you any 
doubt that God is sincere in his gracious proffers, 
and that if you come to Christ you may be saved ? 
Can you question the fact revealed in the Gospel, 
that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all 
sin, and that the vilest of the vile are not beyond 
the reach of his cleansing power ? If you cannot, 
then is this apprehension of the mercy of God 
yours. 

3. Grief on account of sin, and hatred of 
IT, are also essential elements of true repentance. 
The grief felt on its account is because God is 
treated so wrongfully, not merely because the soul 
is endangered and rendered liable to punishment. 
The child may weep in view of the rod, when it 
has no grief at having injured a kind and good 
parent. The grief of true repentance is a holy 
sorrow felt at having treated God so wrongfully. 

S05 also, is there felt a hatred of sin, as being 
that abominable thing which God hates. It is 
not the terrors of the law which are hated, but 
sin, which brings these terrors on the soul. Do 
you know by your experience this grief ; and do 
you hate sin because it is abhorrent to God ? If 
so, you have thus far evidence of being in a truly 
penitent state » 

4. Repentance also includes a turning unto 
God. This is not merely external, but is a turn- 



REPENTANCE. 1^1 

ing both in heart and life. The heart turns from 
its sins, hating them, sorrowing on account of 
them, and cleaves in its affections to God. With- 
out attempting to excuse or palliate his past trans- 
gressions, the repentant sinner approaches his 
Maker with the language of the prodigal son on 
his lips, *' Father, I have sinned against heaven 
and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be 
called thy son.'' And while he thus confesses 
his sins, he renounces them, turning from them 
unto God, with full purpose of soul to live hence- 
forth unto his glory, 

Not only is the heart thus changed in repent- 
ance, but there is also induced a change of life. 
The repentant sinner no longer walks in the path 
of disobedience ; his mouth is no longer open with 
blasphemies ; his life is no longer marked by a dis- 
regard of God and the duties of religion ; but obe- 
dience to the Gospel henceforth characterizes his 
actions. He loves God, and loves to do his holy 
will in all things. 

Are you conscious of thus turning m heart and 
life unto the Lord ? Do you now love the things 
that God loves, and hate those which he hates ? 
Are you assimilated in your spiritual feelings to 
him ? And is it your desire and prayer that you 
may ever be found walking in all his statutes and 
ordinances blameless ? 



132 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

5. In repentance, there is a *' full purpose of 
NEW OBEDIENCE." There is a determination formed 
and expressed, to hve henceforth in conformity to 
God, and to do all in one's power to honor him, 
his law, his Gospel, and his grace, by an open and 
public acknowledgment of duty to him, and the 
expression of a purpose to serve him. 

6. And this is accompanied with *' endeavors 

AFTER NEW OBEDIENCE." He who tumS tO God 

as a repenting sinner, tries in every way he can to 
make reparation for his past misconduct. He 
strives after conformity to God. He assumes the 
panoply of the Christian warrior, and goes on war- 
ring with his worldly lusts, till through grace he 
comes of victorious. Thus his heart is purified from 
dead works to serve the livino- God : and he ad- 
vances from one degree of grace unto another, till 
he reaches heaven at last. 

This is true repentance. Have you experienced 
it ? Have you a true sense of sin, and a distinct 
perception of the mercy of God through a Christ ? 
With a grief and hatred of your sins, have you 
turned from them unto the Lord ? Have you this 
full purpose of obedience, and do you endeavor to 
serve God, because you love him and love the du- 
ties which he requires ? If so, you are a true peni- 
tent, and may hope in the divine mercy as dis- 
played in the forgiveness of all your sins. 



CHAP T E R XVI, 

SANCTIFICATION. 

Faith issues in sanctification. He who thus re- 
ceives and rests on Christ, is a new man. In the 
very act of believing, his heart is spiritually 
changed, and this change is the beginning of a 
work of grace in him, which is to result in complete 
holiness. 

But how is the spiritual act of believing creative 
of holiness in the depraved heart ? It is so, 
through its own impulsive influences, and its ne- 
cessary associations and dependencies. It is im- 
possible to conceive of faith separate from its 
relations, any more than to conceive of the sun 
separate from hght and heat. A hole drilled into 
a dungeon may let in a ray of light from the sun, 
but it cannot let in this ray without introducing at 
the same instant all the primary colors which are 
associate in that light and are its constituent ele- 
ments, — violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, 
and red. Light is a combination of these colors, 
and the smallest ray includes them all, as certainly 
as does the sun itself. And yet it is as proper to 
12* 



134 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

speak of light separate from the piimar}^ colors, 
as to speak of faith separate from repentance, 
love, joy, hope, and all other of the Christian 
graces, which are associate with and dependent on 
it. Though we may speak of faith as an exercise 
of the mind distinctive from love, yet it always ex- 
ists in combination with it ; and faith, however 
small and feeble, though it resemble but a single 
ray of light, cannot be let into the dungeon of the 
depraved mind, without conveying thither all its 
associate Christian graces. It thus conveys into 
the soul the proper elements of holiness, and 
by its own impulsive influence, and its necessary 
associations and dependencies, begins to produce 
in the soul all its proper fruits. 

No man can believe on Christ, who does not, in 
the act of believing, turn from his sins in true 
repentance ; nof can one thus confide in Christ as 
indebted for his forgiveness and deliverance from 
hell to the purchase of his death, and not love 
Christ, and the things which the Saviour loves. 
Faith in its own nature includes love as a concomi- 
tant affection, and also hope and joy. Not that 
faith and love are the same emotions, any more 
than yellow and red are the same colors ; but they 
are dependent on the same principle, and are asso- 
ciate in the same ray of light divine. 



SANCTIFICATION. 135 

Faith naturally includes such a view of Christ, 
and his glorious excellence, as to inspire love. And 
this awakens a spirit of real devoteness to him, and 
a supreme desire of pleasing him. He who be- 
lieves in Christ aims to please him, by conforming 
himself to his holy will ; and he does it out of a 
spirit of grateful love. And this is the principle 
of all true obedience. He who believes in Christ, 
loves him, hopes in him, desires to do his will, re- 
pents of his neglect of duty toward him ; and as 
Christ and God are one, is thus brought into a 
state of conformity to God, and is sanctified 
through faith. 

This is the remedial system of the Gospel. The 
sinner, who has no holiness in himself, confides in 
a righteous and atoning Saviour, and in a spirit of 
grateful love obeys him, and goes on subduing 
his sin, living more and more to the glory of his 
Redeemer, till he reaches a state of perfect love 
and of unfeigned obedience, and is restored to the 
holiness lost through the great apostacy. 

The sinner, in beheving, does not become perfect 
by this one act of faith ; but is united to Christ, 
and continues to believe that he may be perfect. 
This faith is unto hohness. He comes to Christ, 
gives himself away to Christ, takes hold on the 
hand of Christ, and follows Christ by faith, till he 



136 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

is thus enabled to overcome the world, and to 
triumph in the Saviour's righteousness. All his 
salvation is through faith, which is the impulsive 
principle of true hohness ; and this faith is suscep- 
tible of cultivation. The more Christ is brought 
into view of the believer, the more elevated be- 
comes his faith. Reading, meditation, prayer, and 
attendance on the ordinances of religion, are all 
aids to true religion of the heart. They increase 
the believer's holiness only by increasing and ele- 
vating his faith. Faith inspires obedience, and 
obedience reacts upon the faith to increase and 
strengthen it, as water evaporated reacts upon the 
springs from whence it originally flowed. 

The man who believes in Jesus Christ obeys 
him ; and this obedience proceeding from an inward 
principle of faith, brings the soul nearer and still 
nearer to God in confidence and love, till the work 
of redemption in him is complete, and he is gath- 
ered among the saints in heaven, and confirmed in 
that state of holiness and bliss attained through 
faith in the Redeemer. This is the remedial sys- 
tem of the Gospel ; this the gracious plan of sal- 
vation which it proffers to a lost world. 

Sanctification then proceeds from faith. No 
sooner is the soul united by faith to Jesus Christ, 
that it commences that warfare against sin which 



SANCTIFICATION. 137 

is to be carried on till it gains the complete vic- 
tory. The soul that is converted, begins to love 
God supremely ; but this love is not then perfect. 
To love God supremely, is to love him more than 
we love any other being, or all other beings in the 
universe ; to love him perfectly, is to love him in as 
high a degree as is commensurate with our intel- 
ligent and active powers. Between these two points, 
supreme, and perfect love, lies the path of the 
Christian race. 

As faith is susceptible of cultivation, and may 
rise from one degree of strength to another, so it 
is by cultivating our faith, that we become more 
and more holy. It is Christ believed on with all 
the heart which produces holiness in the soul ; 
and the stronger this faith, the more elevated be- 
comes love, and the more perfect; the obedience 
•with which it is associated. 

The means to advance in happiness are to study 
Christ ; to live near to God ; to meditate on his 
glorious character ; to read his Word ; to draw nigh 
to him in prayer. Whatever tends to keep Christ 
before the mind, and to bring the soul into a per- 
fect reliance on this Saviour, tends to increase our 
faith, and produce in us the fruits of holiness. 

The great author of our sanctification is the 
Holy Spirit. As he is the source of all spiritual 



138 THE PATH OF LIFE, 

life in the soul, so is he the author of that ho« 
liness, and advance in spirituality which are in- 
cluded in sanctification. To make advances in 
this divine life, you must put yourself under his 
constant guidance and influences, and live by 
faith on the Son of God. It must be the end and 
aim of your existence to please him. You must 
g^ive all diligence to make your callino- and election 
sure, that ''so an entrance may be ministered unto 
you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ/* 



CHAPTER XVII. • 

HOW IT MAY BE KNOWN TO ONE THAT HE IS TRULY 
CONVERTED. 

Not by a persuasion in his own mind that he 
is converted^ for this may be only a delusion^ Not 
by a feehng of happiness experienced, for this may 
originate in a false hope. Not by dreams, for these 
are mere illusions of the fancy. Not by the good 
opinions of friends, for these maybe built on a sandy 
foundation. Not from the fact that his convic* 
tions have suddenly given place to a calm and 
quiet hope, for this hope may be deceptive and 
this quiet but a return to a settled state of world- 
liness. Nor is a change of heart proved to one's 
own satisfaction^ by being able to refer to the pre- 
cise time when this change occured. 

But one may know that he has found Christ, by 
the spirit of love and obedience into which he is 
introduced by true conversion. It is the nature 
of the work of grace^ and of its fruits, which 
gives the best evidence of a change of heart. If 
this spiritual change be preceded by genuine 
conviction, and accompanied by love to God for 



140 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

what he is in himself; if it awaken delight in God 
after the inner man, and dispose one to obey 
Christ in all that he requires, and to please him, 
this is evidence on which reliance may safely be 
placed. 

A growing desire for conformity to God, hatred 
of sin as that w^hich is offensive to his pure and 
holy nature, loving the duties of rehgion, having 
the spirit of repentance, faith, love, humility, and 
devotion to Christ ; these are the fruits of holy 
principle, and proceed only from a regenerated 
heart. As these graces reign in the soul, they 
will develop the genuineness of conversion, and 
will evince to the converted person himself that 
he has found the Saviour. 

Would you ascertain your own spiritual state ? 
Examine yourself whether you be in the faith. 
Take up the subject of faith in Jesus Christ, as 
set forth in a previous chapter, and ask yourself, 
whether, casting away all confidence in your own 
w^orks of righteousness, you depend for justifica- 
tion on Christ alone. Take up the great subject 
of repentance, and inquire whether you have ex- 
perienced that holy sorrow for sin which it in- 
volves, and have truly turned in heart and life 
unto the Lord. Take up the subject of sanctifi- 
cation, and inquire whether you have the spirit of 



EVIDENCES OF CONVERSION. 141 

true Christian obedience, and are pressing on to- 
wards the mark of the prize of the Christian's 
high calling. Examine the point, not as to how 
you have felt in time past, but whether you are 
now, at this very time, in the exercise of the 
Christian graces, and under the influence of the 
spirit of obedience ; whether you have true sub- 
mission to God, and are walking in all the statutes 
and ordinances of the Lord; whether you love the 
spiritual duties of the closet, love communion with 
those who love Christ, and choose an association 
with the people of God in a religious profession, 
above every other pursuit. Pray that God would 
discover to you your character, and guide you 
by his Spirit into all truth. Thus, in due time, and 
by pursuing the proper course, may you come to 
know the ground upon which your hope is based, 
and gain a comfortable assurance that you are 
born of God. 

13 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

A RELIGIONS PROFESSION. 

This is proper to be made by one who lias 
satisfactory evidence of his faith in Christ. It is 
a profession of that faith which already dwells 
in the soul, and imparts to it a reasonable ground 
of hope in the divine acceptance^ Assurance of 
hope is not required, for this is gained only 
through a long, self-denying, and ardent struggle 
to overcome the world. We make a religious 
profession, that we may be enabled through its 
means to reach this state of assurance* If one 
finds, on a comparison of his heart and life with 
the characteristics of the Christian as set forth in 
the Word of God, a comfortable hope of the divine 
acceptance, and is inspired with a full purpose to 
serve God, it is his duty and privilege to confess 
the Saviour openly before the world. 

This duty arises out of his new relationship to 
Christ as a true believer. Once an enemy to God, 
and openly known as a despiser and rejecter of 
the Gospel, li€ has now come over unto God's 



A RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 143 

side, and it is right that he should be openly 
known as a friend. It is due to himself to make 
this reparation for the injury done by his past 
disobedience, and, by a new life, to proclaim 
abroad the Saviour whom he once openly slighted , 
It is due to the church of Christ, to unite himself 
with it, in the promotion of the same holy ends 
and aims. It is due to God for one thus to honor 
him in the presence of others, and to do all in his 
power to uphold his law, government, and religion 
in the world. 

This duty also arises out of the express com- 
mand of our Saviour to his disciples, to let their 
*• light shine before men ;" or, in other words, to 
be openly known as Christians, and make the 
influence of their Christian example felt for the 
good of others. And in view of this injunction, 
no one who loves the Saviour can fail openly to 
profess his religion, without sin. It is the duty 
of every friend of Christ thus to assume the vows 
of discipleship ; and it is the duty of all men to 
love Christy that they may be prepared to make 
such a religious profession as shall be pleasing to 
him. 

One who loves Christ in sincerity should unite 
himself with his visible church, that, in this way 
and according to the order of his house, he may 



144 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

avail himself of the privileges which such a pro- 
fession confers. It tends to guard him against sin, 
by committing him in view of God, angels, and 
men, to do right. It insures him the benefits of 
religious association with those who love God, 
and of their mutual counsel and aid. And it ena- 
bles him to receive the spiritual benefit resulting 
from the sacraments. 

These, though they are in themselves endowed 
with no saving virtue, are aids to true religion of 
the heart. They do not act on man by virtue of 
his participating in them, but only through his 
faith. There is no saving virtue in merely par- 
taking of the bread and wine of the Lord's sup- 
per ; all the virtue of this ordinance is derived 
from the remembrance of Christ and his suffer- 
ings. In bringing these affectingly to remem- 
brance, faith is strengthened, and the soul, com- 
municating with him spiritually, receives the 
blessings resulting from such a communication. 
Thousands partake of the symbols, who gain no 
spiritual advantage from the ordinance, because 
they have no faith. There must be a heart to 
love Christ and to trust in him, or the participa- 
tion of the ordinance will be useless. Hence the 
necessity of faith, that one may come with accept- 



A RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 145 

ance to the table of the Lord, and gain a spiritual 
advantage in so doing. 

But many are deterred from a religious profes- 
sion, because they feel themselves too unworthy 
to come to the communion table. When this 
feeling of unworthiness proceeds from true humi- 
lity, it is the best evidence that he who feels thus 
is a proper subject of grace, and that, of all others, 
he is the one to come. But the question with the 
humble believer should be, not whether he him- 
self is worthy to come, for he never will be, and 
none but a Pharisee will feel himself worthy ; but 
it is, whether Christ is worthy to be his Prince 
and Saviour. And if he feel that he is, he need 
not hesitate on account of his own imperfections, 
for the greatest honor he can confer on his Sa- 
viour, is to take him at his word, when he says 
that he came into the world to save the lost. 

To partake unworthily, in the sense designed to 
be rebuked by the apostle, refers to the manner 
of regarding and treating this sacred ordinance, 
and not to the general unworthiness of those who 
receive it. The apostle does not say, that for one 
to partake who is unworthy involves the commis- 
sion of the specified sin, but that he who partakes 
in a wicked and improper manner does this. The 
table is spread and the feast provided for none 
13* 



146 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

but the unworthy. It is an ordinance not for holy 
beings, but for sinners ; not for angels, but for 
weak, ionorant, and sinful men. There are no 
terrors surrounding the sacred feast to one who, 
sensible of his guilt and unworthiness, rests 
by faith on the Redeemer, and goes forward 
in humble dependence on his grace. The sacred 
feast was intended for the unworthy, who yet be- 
lieve in Jesus ; for the weak, ignorant, and guilty, 
who trust in the atoning Saviour for justification, 
and seek, by the suitable remembrance of Christ, 
to increase their faith and love. 

Some have hesitated to come forward, and that 
for years, who feel that they love Christ ; and 
have involved themselves in great unhappiness 
and loss of spiritual strength by such an unwise 
delay. It is not possible for one to acquire as- 
surance of hope while living in the neglect of 
duty ; and if he postpone a religious profes- 
sion, expecting first to gain such an assurance, he 
must fail of it. For how can he gain the evidence 
of his certain acceptance with God, while living 
in express disobedience ? We are to obey Christ 
in the commemoration of his death, that by means 
of this commemoration we may be strengthened 
in our inward man, and enabled to rise high in 
our spiritual attainments, ever pressing toward 



A RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 147 

the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. 
And if we ever gain assurance, it will be in this 
way. 

If you feel that you have experienced that 
change of heart described as a new birth, that you 
love Christ, that you have true faith in him, and 
find, on inquiry, satisfactory evidence of this reno- 
vated spiritual state, you ought not to hesitate to 
unite yourself with the professed disciples of 
Christ, and to do it once. You ought not longer 
to delay this duty than to settle in your own mind 
the points which have been suggested ; and the 
time required for this differs with the different ex- 
periences of the converted soul. Remember that 
it is a duty pressing on you constantly, to own 
Christ as your Saviour, and to be in a suitable 
state to make this profession intelligently. And 
the sooner you can conscientiously and scripturally 
avail yourself of the benefits of communing with 
Christ at his table, the happier and better it will 
be for you. 

The obligations assumed in a religious pro- 
fession bind you to God your Saviour in an 
everlasting covenant, and to a supreme devotion 
to his cause. They also bind you to his church 
in a covenant of love, to observe all the duties of 
a Christian, in your closet, family, and the world 



148 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

around you. You enter into covenant witli God 
and his Church, to be the Lord's, and in all your 
Trays to be governed by the pure principles of 
your duty, as recorded in the sacred oracles. This 
covenant is for life. It is one from which you 
can never draw back, but in which you publicly 
commit yourself to God and his people, to walk 
henceforth in all the statutes and ordinances of the 
Lord blameless. 

And now what is your purpose ? Sensible that 
the claims of God rest upon you, that you love 
him, and that vou ousfht, in heart and in life, to 
be devoted to his service, do you feel that it is 
your duty to be openly kuown as a Christian? 
The path of a religious profession is then plain 
before you, and it is the path of life. You enter 
it through Christ, the door ; and by binding your- 
self by covenant to his service, and by pressing on 
in that path, you may hope at length to attain a 
certain assurance of your acceptance with God, 
and to enter through the celestial gate into the 
city. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

TO PLEASE GOD, AS THE SUPREME MOTIVE OF OUR 
ACTIONS, OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE IN THE JOURNEY 
OF LIFE. 

How am I to know what is my duty, that, 
through the divine grace assisting, I may continue 
to walk in the path to heaven, is an inquiry which 
often arises in the thoughts of those who have 
begun a Christian life. The most appropriate di- 
rection which can be given is, let it be the chief 
motive of all your actions to please God. 

That is a motive which moves or excites the 
mind to a given course, and which leads it to act 
one way rather than another. He who gives for 
the purpose of showing to others the extent of 
his liberality, acts from a motive of pride ; he who 
Bteals to increase his possessions, from a motive of 
covetousness. A motive may be subordinate or 
supreme, inferior to others which govern it, or the 
governing intention of the mind which controls 
and gives direction to the whole. 

Our actions include every feeling, thought, or 



150 THE PATH OF LIFJB. 

TolitioD ia which we are free and responsible. 
When it is said that it should be the governing 
motive of our actions to please God, it is raeant 
that it should be the end and aim of our being to 
do what he approves. Every action which is good 
or bad in its nature as compared with a moral 
Jaw, is a moral action, and is done under the in- 
fluence of some motive. An involuntary act has 
BO moral character, and is neither good nor bad. 
But an action proceeding from a wrong intention 
is wrong. So that the intention enters into the 
nature of an action, and imparts to it a moral 
quality. 

Every moral act is done from some motive, and 
this motive may be subordinate or supreme, ac- 
cording to the nature of the transaction. A rob- 
her aims to possess himself of another's property 
for his own gratification. This is the motive which 
controls and gives character to all the inferior mo- 
tives which are brought into play in the accom- 
plishment of this great end. The robber chooses 
his weapons of attack, selects a convenient spot, 
waits till darkness creeps over the earthy arranges 
his plan, springs upon his victim, takes his money, 
and then obhterates, so far as he can, all marks 
which may awaken suspicion and lead to his owu 
r5.rrest> Innumerable motives of an inferior kind 



OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE. lol 

are here brought into play, all of which are sub- 
ordinate to the supreme motive which controls 
them ; and the influence of the supreme motive 
extends itself down to the minutest action necessa- 
ry to the accomplishment of the wicked purpose, 
and gives it character. It is not wrong for a 
traveller to post himself by the highway; but 
when he does it for the purpose of robbery, it is 
wrong. It is not sin for one to step into the road 
and sieze a horse by the bridle ; but when done 
with the intention of robbing a traveller, it is sin. 
It is not wrong for one to eat and drink ; but 
when one does it to strengthen himself for the 
commission of some nefarious crime, it is sin. Even 
the minutest act done under the influence of a 
wicked motive and for the purpose of carrying 
out into execution that crime, is sinfuL 

The supreme motive gives character to all the 
inferior motives and their acts. A mechanic, in 
constructing a locomotive, subordinates one part 
of the machinery to another, in conformity to a 
general intention to produce an engine of great 
speed and power. The intention of the boiler is 
to generate steam; of the piston, to produce mo- 
tion ; of the joints in the extended rod of the pis- 
'ton, to render this motion rotary ; of this rotary 
motion, to act on the wheels: and of the flanges, to 



152 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

keep the wheels on the iron track. Every cylin- 
der^ pipe, joint, and wheel, has its specific office, 
and is arranged with direct reference to speed and 
power. The end of one part is to act on another 
in such a way that the combined action of all the 
parts may accomplish the intention which governs 
the construction of the whole. This great end ex- 
tends itself down to the minutest point, and every 
rivet is driven and clenched with reference to this 
end. So the actions of life are all divided with 
reference to the governing motive which shapes 
and gives character to those even which are the 
most minute. 

But in the case just cited, it is not the supreme 
motive of the mechanic to give his engines speedy 
and powerful motion. This is indeed the motive 
which governs the construction of the various 
parts of an engine, but it is subordinate to ano- 
ther, which is, the pecuniary advantage derived 
from his manufactures ; and this is subordinate to 
another, which is, the use to which he designs to 
apply his gains. If it were his great aim, in ac- 
quiring wealth, to use his means to crush a neigh- 
bor by unjust Htigation out of the ill-will he bears 
him, the influence of this wicked motive would 
extend itself down to all the inferior ones which 
are brought into play in the construction of a 



OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE. 153 

locomotive ; and every volition put forth in its ac- 
complishment, every blow of his hammer, every 
rivet he drives, and even his daily food partaken 
of as a means to accomplish so base an end, are 
sinful. Done with a wicked motive, they partake 
of the character of that motive. Though an inno- 
cent employment in itself to forge iron, and drive 
and clench a heated rivet, yet even this, when done 
with a wicked end in view, is sin ; and he who 
acts under the influence of such a motive is a 
wicked man. 

But if the great motive of acquiring wealth 
should be, to use it for such purposes as are 
pleasing to God, the influence of this motive 
would extend itself down to the minutest actions 
directed to accomplish this end ; and every blow 
of one's hammer, struck with this end in view, 
would be pleasing to him, because done from a 
right motive ; and even the food partaken of with 
such an end in view, would be an act done from a 
supreme regard to his glory. 

Two men may be partners in th^ same busi- 
ness, and yet act from widely diff'erent motives. 
The one may aim to acquire wealth to use it in 
promoting his licentious and sinful pleasures ; and 
the other, that he may use it in doing good. The 
one makes it the end and aim of his being, to 
14 



154 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

please himself; the other, to please God. They 
may conduct their business honestly ; for honesty 
is necessary to the enjoyment of public confidence. 
They may be scrupulously true to their word, 
and faithful in their dealings ; for these things are 
necessary to enable them to win success. They 
may be equally industrious, and, so far as their 
external conduct is concerned, be equally blame- 
less. And yet, the one, governed by a supremely 
selfish motive, is a wicked man. He acts without 
regard to God in the duty he owes him, and God 
is not in all his thoughts. The other acts from a 
supreme intention to please God. He therefore 
begins the day with him, carries the thought of 
him into all his business, and is moral, temperate, 
and industrious, because he aims to please him ; 
and when the duties of the day are over, retires 
to rest with God in his heart, and praise to him 
on his lips. In the one case, honesty is a mere 
expediency to gain a certain end : in the other, it 
is a principle of holy obedience. In the one, the 
morality and industry of life are based on a 
worldly and selfish policy ; in the other, they 
spring from a just fear and reverence of Jehovah. 
Two merchants traffic for gain. One acts from 
a supreme desire to please God by the use of his 
acquired wealth ; the other, from a supreme de- 



OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE. 155 

sire to please himself. In the one, the good 
motive extends itself down to every business 
transaction, and he will do nothing, for the sake 
of gain, but that which is pleasing to God. In 
the other, the bad motive extends itself down to 
every act, and God is not thought of as guiding 
by his law the nature of his business transactions, 
but only his own pleasure. In the one case, the 
tradesman feels himself bound by a supreme de- 
sire to please God, and makes his law the rule of 
his conduct ; in the other, by no law but that of 
custom, or his own pleasure. In the one case, 
honesty is a sterling principle of goodness ; in the 
other, a mere worldly expedient. 

These points are susceptible of a great variety 
of illustration. If one should manifest great 
kindness to a poor family, and it should be at 
length discovered that the intention of this kind- 
ness was to win their confidence, to enable him 
the better to seduce and destroy one of its mem- 
bers, all these generous acts, which in themselves 
are right, would present themselves as base, when 
their wicked motive should be discovered. 

If to this base motive you could superadd that 
of pleasing God, what would be the result? It 
would instantly correct that which is base, and 
bring the motives and conduct of the man into 



156 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

conformity with the divine will. It is impossible, 
therefore, that a motive of pleasing God should 
be the governing motive in such a case. The su- 
preme motive of an act so base as that which is 
here supposed, could be none other than a su- 
preme desire to please oneself, irrespective of 
God; for no man could for a moment think that 
it would be pleasing to God to have him do such 
a wicked act. 

It is impossible, therefore, to transfer our 
wicked actions to the control of a supreme and 
governing motive which is good, and have them 
remain wicked ; nor can we transfer our good ac- 
tions to the control of a wicked motive, and 
have them continue good ; nor is it possible to 
make any such transfer. Every wicked action 
proceeds from a wrong motive, and is complete in 
itself ; and every holy action, from a motive 
which is right. 

How,then,can an unconverted man, the supreme 
motive of whose life is to please himself, do an act 
which is holy and pleasing to God ? He cannot 
do such an act. Admit that it is the supreme mo- 
tive of an unconverted man to please himself, and 
there is not an act done under the influence of this 
motive but what is destitute of holiness ; not one 
which is pleasing to God. Not a thought does he 



OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE. 157 

think, not an emotion feel, nor an act perform, in 
which he can claim the merit of goodness ; but all 
his actions are unholy, because done from a su- 
premely wicked motive. 

How, then, can one commit sin, the supreme 
intention of whose mind is to please God ? We 
respond, that an intention may be supreme, and 
yet may fail at all times to exert a proper control 
over ones actions ; and man is liable to fail of hav- 
ing all his actions controlled by it, in consequence 
of the temptations to which he is exposed. There 
is a conflict in the Christian's mind between the op- 
posite and conflicting principles of supreme love to 
God, and the love of self which has been de- 
throned. When he falls into sin, the latter prin- 
ciple is the motive of that sinful act ; and when the 
former governs him, it re-establishes its control 
over the wrong act, and brings him sincerely to re- 
pent of it. 

To constitute one a Christian, it is not necessary 
that his intention to please God should be perfect, 
and constantly exercising a control over his actions, 
but only that it should be supreme. A perfect 
intention of this kind, and which exerts a perfect 
control over the mind, is the prerogative of perfect 
and sinless beings. It must be the supreme and 
governing intention of the Christian to please God ; 
14* 



158 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

but this intention may fail at times to control his 
affections and conduct, and, in this sense, be im- 
perfect. It may not, at all times, exert such an 
influence on the mind as to prevent unholy mo- 
tives and conduct from springing into existence 
there. 

A galvanic battery at the end of a telegraph 
■wire does not always exert the same perfect con- 
trol over the different parts of communication along 
the line, though it is designed to do so. The wire 
may be broken, or the electric influence may be led 
off to the earth by a conducting body falling across 
the wire, and thus the battery, for a season, may 
lose its perfect control over the points it is designed 
to reach. Or the electric influence may be diffused 
into the atmosphere by the conducting power of a 
dense vapor, and the battery thus fail of its natu- 
ral and proper control. But when these contin- 
gencies are removed, its influence is restored. Xo 
one presumes to doubt that the telegraph is a good 
and useful instrument, though liable to many im- 
perfections. So is it with the Christian. The chief 
motive of his actions is to please God ; yet his 
thoughts and affections are liable to be temporari- 
ly conducted off to worldly things by the innumer- 
able temptations which cross his path ; and it is 
only when supreme devotion to God reassumes its 



OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE. 159 

ascendancy and exerts its proper control, that his 
heart is rectified and the actions of the Hfe become 
what they should be. It was lo this that Paul re- 
ferred when he said, ** I find then a law, that when 
I would do good, evil is present with me. For I 
delight in the law of God after the inward man. 
But I see another law in my members, warring 
against the law of my mind and bringing me into 
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 
wretched man that I am, w^ho shall deliver me 
from the body of this death ?" 

The motive to please God is morally opposite 
that of pleasing one's self, and both cannot reign 
supremely in the breast at the same time. One of 
them must be subordinate. When the desire of 
pleasing one's self is supreme, it casts down God 
and his laws as inferior to one's own pleasure ; 
and it assumes a position hostile to Jehovah, and 
of rebeUion to* his government. When the desire 
of pleasing God establishes a supreme control in 
the heart, it subordinates the actions of life into a 
conformity with Jehovah's will, and inspires a 
spirit of supreme devotedness to him. These two 
motives govern all human actions. They are an- 
tagonistic principles. Hence our Saviour said, 
*' No man can serve two masters, for either he 
will hate the one and love the other, or else he 



160 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye 
cannot serve God and mammon/' And to this 
fact Jehovah had reference vsrhen he said, ** Thou 
shalt have no other god before me.'' 

1^0 one can doubt, who is guided by the sacred 
oracles, that it is the duty of all men to please 
God, and that true religion consists in that spirit 
of obedience to him which springs from loving 
him supremely. True religion enters into the 
life, and settles the motives of all its actions. 
There is no conflict betvv^een business and religion, 
and can be no divorce between them ; for it should 
be the great motive of all our actions, extending 
itself into every duty of life, both temporal and 
spiritual, to please God. Our business must be 
planned and conducted in all its parts in accord- 
ance with this motive ; and so, also, must be our 
religious duties. If we perform religious duties 
from selfish considerations, and not out of a 
supreme desire to please God, they are sinful ; 
and if we conduct our business to please our- 
selves, irrespective of God, it is sin. 

Religion cannot be divorced from our daily 
business, but it enters into it to control the man- 
ner of conducting it, and the great end for which 
it is conducted, and to give it such a direction as 
shall be pleasing to God. All worldly business 



OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE. 161 

is, therefore, subordinate to the great motive of 
pleasing him; or, in other words, is subordinate 
to religion ; and no one can set up his business as 
superior to religion, or treat it as of equal import- 
ance, without contradicting the first principles of our 
duty, as inculcated by our Saviour when he said, 
** Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
ness ;" and without indulging a spirit which, if 
carried out to its full extent, would aim to dethrone 
the Almighty. 

This shows us by what rule we are to be 
governed, who aim to walk in the true patli of 
life, and how, in any case, to judge of our duty. 
It is our duty always to inquire, whether, in doing 
what we propose to ourselves, we shall act agree- 
ably to the will of our Heavenly Father. No 
man has a right to please himself by doing that 
which is not pleasing to God. Not only must his 
business, but his pleasures be, all of them, subor- 
dinate to the great motive of pleasing Jehovah. 

If disposed to follow a branch of business of 
doubtful rectitude, or to conduct a lawful business 
in a way which is questionable as to its propriety ; 
or if tempted into wordly pleasure, and disposed 
to taste its seductive sweets, his great sohcitude 
should be to ask whether that which he purposes 
will be pleasing to his Creator. If inclined to 
desecrate the Sabbath, to transact secular business 



l62 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

on that day, or amuse himself with secular plea- 
sures, let him ask whether it will be pleasing to 
God for him so to do ; for no man has a right to 
please himself by doing anything which is not 
pleasing to the great Jehovah. 

Kor is it right to please our friends, excepting 
so far as, at the same time, we please God. It is 
not the duty of a wife to please her husband, or a 
husband to please his wife, further than is agree- 
able to the will of our Heavenly Father, and re- 
ceives his approbation. 

A parent ought not to please his child by per- 
mitting it to do that which is not agreeable to 
God. A parent should represent, in his own con- 
duct to the child, the- feelings and wishes of God ; 
and if he permit the child to do that which is not 
pleasing to Jehovah, and sanction such conduct, 
he becomes the representative of the devil to the 
child, and not the representative of God. Nor 
ought a child to please a parent any further than 
to do that which is pleasing to his Father in 
heaven. Hence it is written, '* Children, obey 
your parents in the Lord, for this is right." 

As one may not please himself, so he may not 
please his employer, excepting in doing that which 
God approves. No matter who that employer is, 
or what the service required, yet no man has a 
right to please him excepting in things which are 



OUR ONLY SAFE GUIDE. 163 

agreeable to the Proprietor and Lord of all. If 
one should be required by an employer to dese- 
crate the Sabbath, he would have no right to do 
so unless he also should please God at the same 
time. Nor has an employer a right to demand 
that another shall do for him what he knows God 
cannot be pleased with. It would be as right for 
him to require that one .should swear a false oath 
in court for his sake, as to please him by desecrat- 
ing that Sabbath which God has commanded to 
be kept holy. What difference in moral turpitude 
is there between a violation of the precepts of the 
first and second tables of the divine law ? Why 
is not he who breaks the third command as guilty 
in the sight of God as he who breaks the ninth ; 
he who takes the name of God in vain, as he who 
bears false witness ? What difference is there in 
the moral quality of these two acts, excepting that, 
for the protection of our civil rights, man has laid 
a heavier penalty on the latter violation than on 
the former? Man has made a difference between 
the moral turpitude of a violation of the several 
precepts of the law; but has God made such a 
difference ? No. Nor will he allow the various 
distinctions which men have set up to excuse their 
disobedience. 

The same rule is applicable to our country. No 
one has a right to do for his country that which 



164 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

he may not do for himself, and which God do^s 
not approve. IN'o human legislator can make a 
law binding on the conscience, which is contrary 
to the will of God expressed in his law ; nor has 
our country any just claim upon our services, to 
require of us an act which is morally wrong, and 
as such is displeasing to Jehovah. The claims of 
God are infinitely superior to those of country 
employers, business, pleasures, friends; and He is 
to be pleased, whatever may become of all our 
worldly interests in consequence. The intention 
of pleasing God, where it supremely reigns in the 
heart, will lead one to break off every sin and do 
every duty ; and it will bear the Christian on, con- 
flicting with the world, till he shall triumph over 
it and be fitted at last to enter the blissful seat of 
heaven. By observing this rule and following 
these directions, you will walk in safety the jour- 
ney of life. Take this great principle, study it, 
and let it shape all your actions into a conformity 
to God. Begin a religious life on right principles, 
and never swerve from them. Then may you by 
faith take hold of the Saviour's hand, and be 
conducted in the path to heaven, till you shall 
reach that bright and beautiful world, where you 
may find your happiness with the angels in loving 
and serving God for evermore. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE REASONABLENESS OF PLEASING GOD, AS THE 
MOTIVE OF OUR ACTIONS AND THE HAPPINESS 
TO WHICH IT LEADS. 

That is reasonable whicli accords with our true 
condition, provides for our rational wants, and 
promotes our highest good. It would not be rea- 
sonable for G-od to require a man to flj;, unless he 
should furnish him with wings. But it is reason- 
able to require him to use his limbs for his own 
preservation^ and in promoting his own happiness. 
Ko man can be reasonably required to do what is 
not for his own good, any more than to put out 
his own eyes, or sever from the trunk his limbs. 
Nor can he be required to do that which will de- 
prave his mind, or to starve his soul, with more 
reason than to starve his body. Nor can man be 
reasonably required to become an- angel, any more 
than to become the supreme Jehovah. In claim- 
ing that man shall make it the chief motive of his 
existence to please him, God does not require of 
him anything but what is accordant with his 
highest happiness. 
15 



166 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

He deserves the supreme love of his creatures, 
and that they should make it the chief motive of 
their actions to please him. He is the Creator of 
the world, the author of our being, the 'parent of 
all our mercies, and, as such, deserves our supreme 
regard. He is also infinitely excellent. And more 
than this, he has sought our happiness ; and it is 
due to one so excellent and glorious, so wise, 
powerful, and good, and who stands in such rela- 
tions to us, that we look to him for guidance, and 
and make it the chief motive of our actions to 
please him. 

It is also due to ourselves. As dependent and 
needy creatures, we look to him for the supply of 
our wants. As ignorant, we look to him for guid- 
ance. We cannot tell where to find real happi- 
ness, or what is for our real good ; and it is rea- 
sonable that, in our ignorance, we should be re- 
quired to follow the path which he has marked 
out, as the path of our happiness. As depraved, 
our hearts are naturally inclined to seek happiness 
in the world, and to disobey God; and it is reason- 
able that we should be required to take hold of 
our heavenly Parent's hand, like a little child, to 
be led by him into the path of safety. 

It is ennobling to man, and tends to elevate him 
to his proper place in the scale of created intelli- 
gence, to be required, as the end of his being, to 



THE WAY TO HAPPINESS. 167 

please God. Habitual converse with infinite 
purity can have no other effect than to confer 
this elevation. If he had no other standard of 
excellence than the creations of his own debased 
intellect, what would he become ? It is well re- 
marked, that the morality of a people never rises 
higher than the character of their gods. And if 
we view the various idolatries of the world, we 
shall discover this remark verified. How can 
man fail to be debased by the contemplation of 
objects in their nature impure ? Habitual converse 
with the impurities of idolatry tends only to moral 
defilement. 

But to commune with God so brings into view 
his exalted character as to inspire the soul with 
his exalted virtues. The effect of loving a virtu- 
ous being is to purify the affections, as loving an 
impure object tends to debase them. One cannot 
love God and not love the virtues which he loves, 
hate the sins which he hates. The Deity thus be- 
comes the standard of excellence toward which 
the affections are constantly rising ; and the effect 
of striving after conformity to so perfect a stand- 
ard, is to bring the soul in its affections into a 
moral resemblance to this perfect being. 

What can be purer in its influence than love for 
the purest being in the universe ? what holier than 
communion with holiness itself? The very exer- 



168 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

cise of affections so excellent and influential, can- 
not fail to exalt him in whom they dwell. God 
being the object of love, the very act of loving 
him dmws the sonl away from earthly impurities, 
and fashions it after his own glorious image ; nor 
can any one make it the chief motive of his actions 
to please God, and not bear to him a moral re- 
semblance. 

The same effect is discernible on the intellect. 
Every man thinks, but the subject of thought is 
widely different with different individuals. The 
thoughts of a heathen extend only to his daily 
wants, and to the worship of his idols. Many of 
our race ar-e sunk in low debasement, subject to 
the most grovelling passions, and hardly superior 
to the brutes. In these the intellect is debased, 
and is barely sufficient to enable them to claim 
the attributes of humanity. There is nothing to 
dmw out into proper action the powers of the 
soul. Their most exalted and reverential views 
of truth and goodness are awakened in view of the 
idol gods whose characters are most impure, and 
the -extent of whose wisdom and power is confined 
to a few tricks of jugglery, which are practised 
by their priests. 

From this lowest degradation of the human in- 
tellect, there is a gradual ascent up to man as en- 
nobled by a knowledge of the true God. When 



THE WAY TO HAPPINESS. 169 

Jehovah is understood, the mind partakes of the 
elevation which such knowledge is fitted to impart. 
Its thoughts, rising to the infinite Jehovah the 
Creator and preserver of all things, receive expan- 
sion by the mere contemplation of such a being. 
The study of his works gives new and more ex- 
alted views of his greatness and glory ; and there 
is a field of investigation thus spread out before 
the mind, which it may cultivate, and where it 
may forever find new displays of the character of 
the Almighty, and new motives to adore and 
praise him. 

How are the thoughts lifted above the objects 
of sense, the grovelling creatures of a debased 
imagination, when they rise to fix themselves on 
the Supreme Jehovah ! The very study of sucli 
a character, the mere thinking on him, tends to 
the intellectual elevation and moral improvement 
of the human mind. Thought is thus expanded, 
memory rendered a receptacle for the most valua- 
ble of all human attainments, judgment is strength- 
ened, and the whole intellect clothed with moral 
beauty. 

Man never suitably conceives of his own true 
dignity, till he comes into a proper acquaintance 
with God. To show himself a man, it is necessary 
to know God, else he cannot fail to mistake his 
own position as a creature, and improperly to esti- 
15* 



IVO THE PATH OF LIFE. 

mate his own character. It is only when he recog- 
nizes the fact that he is created in the divine 
image, and discov-ers what that image is, that he 
rises in the scale of being immeasurably superior 
to the brutes, and takes his proper place with an- 
gels around the throne. 

The same ennobling influence extends itself to 
the moral faculties. An enlightened conscience is 
the result of acquaintance with God, The sense 
of right and wrong, through ignorance and de- 
pravity sometimes becomes so weak as to seem 
almost lost in man. This moral principle is sus- 
ceptible of cultivation. In proportion as God is 
loved, and is made the motive of all our actions to 
please him, does conscience rise from its degrada- 
tion to resume its proper influence over man. The 
intellectual and moral faculties are thus rescued 
from the degrading influence into which depravity 
has cast them; and the soul itself, through the 
supreme desire to please God, emerges from its 
degradation, to resume its original character and 
become fitted for heaven. In no other way can 
this great end be attained, but by making it the 
motive of all our actions to please God. It is 
therefore a reasonable requisition on his part, to 
demand this conformity in us to his holy will, 
because it imparts an ennobling influence, tending 
to the complete redemption of man, and the 



THE WAY TO HAPPINESS. 1*71 

restoration to his soul of the divine ima^e, lost 
through the great apostacy. 

It is also promotive of our true and substantial 
happiness, to be required thus to please God. 
Conformity to his will is the source of true hap- 
piness. That which springs from the objects of 
sense must terminate with those objects. But 
that which springs from a supreme desire to please 
€rod, is pure and unfailing as is the crystal stream 
of Paradise. The soul, by loving him, is moulded 
into a resemblance to his perfect character, and 
comes into possession of the same moral feelings 
and enjoyments. Its sins forgiven, received into 
the enjoyment of the divine friendship, and the 
adoption of sons, associated with the divinity in an 
endearing relationship, and introduced into the 
society of heaven, it comes into the possession of 
happiness without alloy. 

The Christian so confides in God, that it is as if 
he took hold on the hand of his Father in heaven, 
and were led by him through all the dangers and 
trials of this earthly pilgrimage. The conscious- 
ness of having in God a protector and friend, is 
the source of pure enjoyment. Indeed, the hap- 
piness arising from this source exceeds all that 
the unconverted soul ever knew. There is peace 
in that soul when God becomes the supreme 
object of its love. Amid the storms of adversity, 



1T2 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

there is felt a calm repose ; and in the hour of 
death, the consciousness of being sustained by the 
everlasting arm, takes away every sting, and 
kindles in the believer's heart a holy and trium- 
phant joy. And where does the spirit of the 
dying saint go, but to the bosom of his Father, 
and our Father, of his God, and our God ? Intro- 
duced into the celestial world, it is then attracted 
to the object of its supreme love; and in the 
society of God and angels, finds its happiness 
for evermore. Man thus realizes the true and 
substantial happiness for which he was originally 
created. How great this happiness, who can tell ? 
'' Eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard, nei- 
ther hath entered into the heart of man, the things 
which God hath prepared for those who love 
him." Xone but the true Christian can form any 
suitable estimate of the pleasure of loving God, 
or of the bliss attained in his presence in glory. 

We see the blessed God stooping from his 
throne in heaven to take us by the hand and con- 
duct us amid the dangers and trials of our mortal 
state safe to his heavenly abode. And nothing 
can be more reasonable, and in accordance with 
his own wisdom -and goodness, than that we should 
be required to take hold on his hand and walk 
with him in all our journey to the grave. *' Happy 
is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that 



THE WAY TO HAPPINESS. lIS 

getteth understanding ; for the merchandise of it 
is better than the merchandise of silver, and the 
gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious 
than rubies, and all the things that thou canst 
desire are not to be compared with her. Her 
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths 
are peace/' 

Thus to glorify and «njoy God is the great end 
of our being ; and we are required to obey him 
that we may be happy. God has thus consulted 
his own glory and our good. ^* Behold what 
manner of love the father has bestowed upon us, 
that we may be called the sons of God !" " Herein 
is love ; not that we loved God, but that he loved 
us, and sent his Son to be the proptiation for our 
sins.," It is the great end of redemption, to rescue 
and save guilty man, delivering him from all his 
transgressions, and elevating him to the holiness 
and happiness of primeval innocence. He who is 
saved is made forever happy. All the evils inci- 
dent to his depraved nature are removed, and he 
is by death introduced into the glorious abode of 
angels, and to the society of the just made perfect 
for evermore. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

HOME. 

The patli of life conducts us to our home. We 
are strangers and pilgrims on earth. Our friends 
are passing away, and the generations now on the 
stage of life are tending to the grave. This world 
cannot long be our abode. But there is a place 
provided for us if we love God, which is properly- 
designated our Father's house. It is heaven, the 
Christian's home. It is here, that having finished 
his labors, his toils ended, and the sun of life gone 
down, the child of God is introduced into the 
family of heaven and the society of the redeemed. 
Here he discovers the pious friends who have 
gone before him, all gathered, and happy in the 
consideration that sin and pain and death are 
forever excluded from that blissful abode. It 
is a blessed family; and there is joy there at 
every introduction of one of earth's pilgrims to 
its circle. 

Here there is no sin, no suffering, no separation 
from those we love. We shall hunger no more. 



HOME. 11 5 

neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light 
on us, nor any heat ; but the Lamb which is in 
the midst of the throne shall feed us, and shall 
lead us unto living fountains of water, and God 
shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Here 
there are employments suited to our immortal 
nature, and enjoyments pure and unalloyed. 
There can be conceived no greater happiness than 
is in heaven. The pilgrims of earth, having toiled 
along the path of life, and struggled against temp- 
tations and sin which beset them, at length finish 
their pilgrimage. JSTature sinks under its infirmi- 
ties, and the grave receives all that is mortal. 
But the spiritual and immortal man is at once 
transferred into the society of the blessed, to go 
no more out of it forever. Who can tell what are 
the joys felt by the Christian on reaching his 
home ? Who can read the sacred testimonies on 
this subject and not pray that his portion may be 
at last with those who love God, "that he may 
have a right to the tree of life, and may enter 
through the gate into the city ?" 

One of the most striking emblems of the happi- 
ness into which the saint is introduced at death, 
is presented to view in a beautiful garden, through 
which flows the pure river of the water of life, 
as clear as crystal, proceeding from the foot of 



1T6 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

God's eternal throne. In the midst of the garden, 
and on either side of the river, is the tree of Ufe^ 
which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded 
her fruit every month, and the 1-eaves of the tree 
are for healing of the nations. This emblem 
presents itself with great force^ especially to those 
who live in a sultry cHme. Lovely is a watered 
garden, where fruits and flowers, in every variety, 
abound, and where winter never comes, nor biting 
frost, to disappoint the hope of man.. In the 
midst of this garden stands the palace af the 
great Mng, and this is heaven. 

Music is another emblem under which the bliss 
of this world of glory is portrayed. Music has 
charms, acknowledged by all to whom God has 
given a proper ear; and nature is full of it. The 
fields and groves are filled with feathered song- 
sterSy which discourse to us dehghtfully of the 
opening spring, and make home cheerful with 
their responding melodies. There is music in the 
insect's chirp and in its hum^ as, with busy wings, 
it wheels in untiring flight around us. There is 
music in the sighing wind, the summer's breeze, as 
it plays upon the foHage, and in the deep roar of 
the tornado a There is music in the muttering 
thunder reverberating at a distance, and in its 
startling peals breaking on our ears at our side. 



HOME. 177 

There is music in the remote waterfall, as its note 
is varied in intensity by the rarity or density of 
the chano^inor air. There is music in the roll and 
dash of the ocean's waves; and some have even 
fancied that the bright orbs of light, which roll in 
solemn grandeur on their midnight way, discourse 
sweet music, as from an organ set up for Jehovah's 
praise in the great temple of the universe. From 
whatever source music proceeds, the ear loves it: 
hence it is common to provide it for our friends, 
as a pleasant means of rational enjoyment; and 
God has selected it as an apt emblem of the hap- 
piness of heaven. There is music there, and all 
the harmonies of nature are there brought into 
such perfect arrangement as to fill the soul with 
exquisite delight. There is, there must be, hap- 
piness in heaven, to render it worthy of such re- 
presentations as the Bible gives of it; something 
infinitely more to be desired than any pleasures 
which earth can possibly confer. 

It is a beautiful thought, suggested by the ora- 
cles of God, that " they that be wise shall shine 
as the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever." 

If, on the decease of some loved friend, who is 
saved through Christ, we could discover his glory 
realized in the svmbol of some new and briejht 
16 



l'J'8 THE PATH OF LIFE. 

star, which should develop itself and shine with 
brilliant lustre amid the myriads which fill the eye 
on a cloudless night, and we could know that star 
to be the representation of the glory into which that 
friend has been introduced, the sight of it would 
deeply affect us. Our gaze would be fixed upon 
it as, night after night, it should open its bright 
eye upon us from its celestial abode. Often should 
we sit and gaze, seeming to hold converse with it, 
and in our musing call up into remembrance a 
thousand pleasant looks and actions of our 
friend. The very sight would awaken in us a solici- 
tude to do nothing which would grieve that friend, 
or which, if known in heaven, would waken there 
one anxious thouo-ht. 

o 

Our Saviour compared the Christian's example 
to light, when he said, '* Let your light so shine 
before men, that they seeing your good works, 
may glorify your father which is in heaven." And 
when death removes the Christian from our side, 
all his infirmities and weaknesses are forgotten, in 
view of the virtues of the life concentrated on the 
memory. These present themselves to us as light, 
and seem to shine as rays proceeding from some 
bright orb in the celestial world. Hence the 
natural suggestion of a star, as the emblem of his 



HOME, 11 9 

glory, and of the brightness of the firmament which 
it illumines. 

Inconceivably glorious is that state into which 
the believer comes at death, for no other could 
sustain the propriety of such emblems, or jus- 
tify their use. There to shine in glory, is to 
possess a happiness which is perfect and enduring. 
God is called a Sun, and the purity and bliss of 
heaven are compared to the light and splendor 
which his presence sheds around. So the happi- 
ness of the Christian at death is beautifully de- 
lineated by the bright star, which nightly dis- 
plays itself to the beholder. Fixed in the celestial 
firmament, it sheds abroad its glorious beams, with 
a constancy which nothing can interrupt. Clouds 
may intercept and hide it from our view ; the ga- 
thering storm may pile mountains of darkness on 
each other, and for a time conceal from us its joy- 
ful light ; but the storm will pass away, and 
through the breaking cloud that star will still be 
visible, shining with undiramed lustre, undisturbed 
by the commotions of earth. Far beyond the 
clouds that star is set, forever to shine — the emblem 
of the Christian's happiness who has passed by 
death to his reward. 

Thus glorious is the Christian's home. It is 
through the path of life that we reach that place 



ISO THE PATH OF LIFE. 

of holy rest. This path I have now endeavored 
to set before you. Will you walk in it, and press 
forward, that you may gain this heavenly abode ? 
Do not falter in your determination to do so. Do 
not shrink from the difficulties and trials you must 
encounter. Remember that you are by faith to 
take hold of the Saviour's hand, and that he is able 
to guide you into the green pastures and by the 
still waters of the everlasting rest. Happy will it 
be for us who love God, when we shall have es- 
caped the trials of life, gained the victory over 
death, and assembled with triumphant songs in our 
Father's house above. Happy for us, when, hav- 
ing overcome the world, we shall have reached our 
Home. 



OATALO^'O'B 

OP 

VALUABLE PUBLICATIONS 

ISSUED BY M. W. DODD, 
PUBLISHER AND BOOKSELLER, 

€ov. ttlts ?^all Equate antr Jbptute St. 

(OPFOSITE CITY HALL, NEW TORE.) 



CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH'S WORKS, 

\iriTH AN INTRODUCTION 

BY MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 

2 Volumes, Octavo. 

COI^AINING PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR ON STEEL, 

WITH SEVERAL OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS, 

ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THE WORK. 

The Publisher invites the attention of the public to this new Edition 
of one of the most popular and useful writers of the present age. 

It contains, in the compass of nearly 1700 large octavo pages, all ths 
productions, in Prose and Poetry, of this admirable authoress, suited to 
a Standard Edition of her Works. Several of these were furnished in 
manuscript for this edition by Mrs. Tonna, which has her express en- 
dorsement, and is the only one in this country from which she has de- 
rived any pecuniary benefit. 

To give additional value to the work by illustrating and embellishing 
IC, we have, at considerable expense, added to it several Engravings 
from Steele, got up expressly for this purpose. It is believed few works 
can be found surpassing these in value for family reading. They con>- 
bine, to an unusual degree, an elevated moral tone, with reading attrac- 
tive to both old and young. And for the requisites oi beauty, c/icapne«», 
and legibility combined, this edition of Charlotte Elizabeth's works it 
not excelled by anything in the market. 

The last edition contains her Memoir by her husband, designed to be 
a Supplement to Personal Recollections, and embracing the period from 
the close of her Personal Recollections to her death. Also, " War with 
the Sa.ints ; or. Count Raymond of Toulouse,"— the work she finished 
Almost simultaneously with her earthlv career. 

. 1 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

•• Charlotte Elizabeth's Works have become so unirer* 
sally known, and are so highly and deservedly appreciated 
in this country, that it has become almost superfluous to 
praise them. We doubt exceedingly whether there has 
been any female writer since Hannah More, whose works 
are likely to be so extensively read and so profitably read 
as hers ^^le thinks deeply and accurately, is a great an- 
alyst of the human heart, and withal clothes her ideas in 
most appropriate and eloquent language. The present 
edition, unlike any of its predecessors in this country, is 
in octavo form, and makes a fine substantial book, which, 
both in respect to the outer and inner, will be an ornament 
to any library." — Albany Argus. 

" These productions constitute a bright relief to the 
bad and corrupting literature in which our age is so 
prolific, full of practical instruction, illustrative of the 
beaut.y of Protestant Christianity, and not the less abound- 
ing in entertaining description and narrative." — Journal 
of Commerce. 

** In justice to the publisher and to the public, we add 
that this edition of Charlotte Elizabeth's Works will foriL 
a valuable acquisition to the Christian and Family Libra- 
ry." — Christian Observer. 

** We experience a sense of relief in turning from the 
countless small volumes, though neat and often ornate, 
that the press is constantly throwing in our way, to a 
bold, substantial-looking octavo of 850 pages, in plain 
black dress, with a bright, cheerful countenance, such as 
the volumes before us. Of the literary characteristics of 
Charlotte Elizabeth we have had frequent occasion to 
speak. Her merits and defects are too well known to 
need recapitulation here," — J\'*ewark Daily Advertiser. 

This third volume completes this elegant octavo edition 
of the works of this popular and useful author. The 
works themselves are so well known as not to need com- 
mendation. The edition we are disposed to speak well 
of It is in clear type, on fine paper, and makes a beauti- 
ful series. It is, moreover, very cheap." — A'^ew York 
Evangelist. 



VTE ALSO PUBLISH THE FOLLOWING OF CHARLOTTE ELIi.* 
ABETM'S WORKS, IN UNIFORM, NEAT 18mO. VOLS., 
VARYING FROM 25 TO 50 CENTS PER VOL 
2 



Books Published atid/or Sale by M. W. Lodd. 
LIFE OF CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. 

l6mo. 

H'ith a new and accurate Portrait^ finely cnjraved on steel, expressly 

for this volume. 

" We doubt if the lives of many females are blended witk 
more incidents and richer lessons of instruction and wisdom, 
than the life of Charlotte Elizabeth. It will be found as cap- 
tivating as any romance, and will leave on the mind a lasting 
impression for good. Mr. Dodd's edition before us, is certainly 
a very beautiful one, and we hope will commend itself to many 
readers. Over three hundred pages of the work are occupied 
with Charlotte Elizabeth's Personal Recollections. Mr. Tonna 
has added Explanatory Notes, and a Memoir, embracing the 
period from the close of her Personal Recollections to her death. 
It is embellished with a finely executed portrait of Charlotte 
Elizabeth, which is said to be an excellent likeness of its la- 
mented original." — Albany Spectator. 

" Mr. Dodd of New York has published, in a handsome vol- 
ume, the Personal Recollections of Charlotte Elizabeth, accom- 
panied by a Memoir, embracing the period from the close of 
the work just named to the time of her death, thus giving {\ 
connected and interesting Memoir of her life. The biographi- 
cal sketches of the life of one of the most eloquent and gifted 
female writers of the nineteenth century, thus united in one 
volume, will be peculiarly acceptable." — Pkll. Christ. Observe?. 

" Mr. M. VV. Dodd, writes a friend, has opportunely brought 
out a new and beautiful edition of the Life of Charlotte Eliza- 
beth. Its intrinsic value and interest are too widely known 
to need our commendation ; but this edition is rendered doubly 
attractive by a portrait, ejigraved expressly for it, and said to 
be remarkably accurate. We have, with this, a bold auto- 
graph, in very much such a hand as might be expected from 
one who "wrote so much and so well." — Newark Daily Ad- 
vertiser. 

" It is a beautiful book, and presents a complete biography 
of a truly pious and remarkable woman, whose excellent 
writings have interested and benefitted thousands, on both 
•ides of the Atlantic, and are destined to be a lasting blessing 
to the Church and to the world." — Baptist Register. 

** A new and beautiful edition of this work, with additional 
ma Lcr of interest, which will be sought by the many nd- 
m ers of that gifted and distinguished writer." — New York 
Observer. 

A 



Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dodd, 

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH'S WORKS. 

IN 18mo. VOLUMES. 

JUDAH'S LION. 

*' In t sprightly, well-written narrative, containing scenes vt nigh di»- 
vatic interest; it portrays the character and hopes of the Jews in thcij 
fispOTsion, and points to the means which may be blessed in restoring 
them to the faith of Abraham, in the true Messiah." — Pkila. Observer. 

" Individuality of character is faithfully preserved, and every one i» 
necessary to the plot. The reader will find in this book much informa- 
tion that tie can only find elsewhere by very laborious research. Char 
lotte Elizabeth is a firm believer in the national restoration of the Jew* 
to the possession of Palestine, but believes they will previously be con- 
verted to Christianity. We advise our friends not to take up this book 
until they can spare time for the perusal ; because, if they commence, ii- 
will require much self-denial to lay it down until it is fairly read 
through." — Christian Adv. and Jour. 

THE FLOWER GARDEN. 

A collection of deeply interesting Memoirs, beautifully 
illustrated under the similitude of flowers. 



POSTHUMOUS AND OTHER POEMS. 

" Most of the Poems contained in this volume, now appear for the first 
fime, and have been furnished chiefly by the friends to whom they were 
addressed. They breathe the same heavenly spirit, and bear the im» 
press of the same gifted mind, with all the other productions of the la- 
mented Authoress." — Albany Statesman. 

FALSEHOOD AND TRUTH. 

■A beautiful and instructive volume, worthy to be put into the hand* 
of all children and youth, as a choice token of parental solicitude foi 
their preservation from insidious errors, and the establishment of th« 
truth as it is in Jesus. Few there are indeed of any age who can read it 
without equal profit and pleasure." — Boston Recorder. 

CONFORMITY. 

''-We read this little volume with great and unqualified satisfaction. 
^e wish we could induce every professor of religion in our large cities, 
and indeed all who are in any way exposed to contact with the fashion*- 
kto world, to read it. The author, in this little work, fully sustains hef 
hifh reputation as a very accomplished and superior writer, and thft 
ftaunch advocate, of Evangelical pri iciples, carried out and made infl» 
«itial upon the whole life and conduc .'^ — Epif^ Recorder 




Boohs Published and for Sale by M, W. Dodd. 



CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH S WORKS CONTINUED, 

COUNT RAYMOND OF TOULOUSE, 

And the Crusade against the Albigenses, under Popk 
Innocent III. By Charlotte Elizabeth. Illustrated 
edition. ] 6mo. 

"The subject of this volume, and the spirited style in which it Is 
written, will command for it an extensive circulation ; but it derives 
an additional interest from the fact that it was the last work which 
proceeded from the prolific pen of Charlotte Elizabeth. It occupied 
much of her time and thoughts during the last eighteen months of her 
life, and her earthly existence came to a close almost at the sajne mo- 
ment." — Christian Advocate and Journal. 

" The first thing we have to say of this work is, that It is one of 
Charlottp Dizabeth's best; the next, that there is much in a name, or, 
in other words, that the work has now got a title, which tells the pub- 
lic just what it is ; that it is admirably illustrated, in most perfect Cruik- 
shank style ; and, lastly, that it forms a delightful and valuable Gift 
Book." — Albany Spectator. 

" It is a striking, life-like picture of the sufferings of the Albigenses, 
mingling the facts of history with sketches of personal character, and 
individual heroism, in a manner to excite an interest, and at the same 
time to instruct. It is a historical episode, replete with important les- 
sons." — J^ew York Evangelist. 

"The book will commend itself, as treating of incidents of thrilling 
Importance, and on its own merits will secure a reading, while circum- 
stances combine to invest it with peculiar interest, in the view of all 
who love to see female talent exerted in the cause of religion and 
truth." — Herald of Reli^ous Liberty. 

NA^RONQS OF NA^OMEN. 

Part I. . * Milliners and Dressmakers ;* TI. • The 
Forsaken Home ; III. * The Little Pin-Headers ;* 
IV. * The Lace Runners.' 

" Is now published in handsomely bound volumes by M. W Dodd. 
These are the most popular and intensely interesting stories from the 
ever-moving pen of Charlotte Elizabeth, And we are desirous to see them 
widely read. They are eminently calculated to awaken sympathy for 
the oppressed and the poor, and we therefore take pleasure in calling to 
them the attention of our kind-hearted readers." — N. Y. Observer. 

•' This volume contains Charlotte Elizabeth's most graphic, truthful, 
and pathetic expressions of the ' Wrongs of Women.' She has come out 
%B the champion of her sex, and if they have no such wrongs to be re- 
dressed in this country, they have thousands who sympathize with their 
enslaved sisters in Great Britain." — lb. 

" The authoress of the * Wrongs of Women/ Charlotte Elizabeth, haj 
portrayed them in terms of exquisite pathos and heart-moving tender- 
ness. Eloquently and forcibly has she denounced the inhuman policy 
out of which they have grown; and with all the susceptibilities and 
overwhelming influences of woman's affections, she approaches the sub- 
ject in the hope of being able to bring some alleviation, some mitigation 
•f the mental and physical degradation of her sex." — American iBoston} 
TiaveUer. 5 



Books Published and for Sate by M. W Do'ta. 

THE DESERTER. 

* We have never (we speak advisedly) read a siory that more entirely 
mchained us than this. We are not quite sure how much of ii i* 
ikncy, and how much fact ; but we rather suppose that the outline is 
veritable history, while the filling up may have been drawn partly from 
the author's imagination. The principal hero of the story Is a young 
Irishman, who was lead through the influence of one of his comrades, 
io enUst in the British Army, contrary to the earnest entreaties of his 
mother, and who went on from one step to another in the career of crime 
dll he was tinally shot as a deserter ; though not til: after he had pracli- 
fially embraced the Gospel. The account of the closing scene is one of 
she haest exam{)les of pathetic description that we remember to have met 
/?ith. The whole work illustrates with great beauty and power the 
lownwaru tendencies of profligacy, the power of divine grace to subdue 
die hardest heart, and the encouragement that Christians have nevei 
to despair of the salvation, even of those who seem to have thrown 
themselves at the greatest distance from divine mercy."— .<»/^any Dai.'p 
Citizen. 

" This is one of the happiest efforts of this exceedingly popular writer 
Its great aim appears to be to exhibit the truly benevolent influence of 
real piety upon the heart of man, as well as the degrading nature of sin. 
The narrative is admirably sustained — the waywardness of the unre 
generate exhibited in living colors, and so interspersed with sketches <»f 
the 'soldier's life,' as to add a thrilling interest to the whole. It forms 
a neat library volume of near i^O pages, and is handsomely printed and 
bound in cloth." — Auburn Journal. 

*' One of the happiest productions of the author. The narrative is 
well sustained, and the personages and character are true to nature ** 
—Commercial Advertiser, 

COMBINATION. 

" This is a tale, founded on facts, from the gifted pen of Charlotte Eliz- 
abeth. It is well written, and contains the very best of advice. It lays 
'jo^vn with great force the mighty truth, that without Religion there 
can be no virtue ; and that without the fear and love of God, man will 
inevitably be dashed on the rocks of irredeemable ruin. Religion is the 
Sheet Anchor, the only protection to hold by in the hour of violeni 
temptation ; hut if that be lost, all is over. Siich kittle works as these 
are eminently calculated to produce a vast amount of good ; and there- 
fore let the heads of families place them upon their table for the beneni 
of their children. 

'* In no better way could an evening be spent than by having it read 
aloud, that a warning may be taken from the folly of others, and that 
the course which has led them to ignominy and disgrace may be rao*t 
sajrefully avoided." — Boston American Traveller 

THE DAISY— THE YEW TREE, 

Chapters on Flowers. 

Three most delightfii .itlle volumes, made up in part from 
her very popular Flower Garden Tales for those who prefet 
them m smaller volumes 
6 



I 



Books Published end fen Sale by M, IV. Dodd, 



JUD/EA CARTA. 

'Jndaea Capta,' the last offering from the pen of this gifted and |>op> 
alar writer, will be esteemed as one of her best works. It is a ^a[»hi% 
narrative of the invasion of Jiidea by the Roman legions under Vespa- 
elan and Titus, presenting atfectinp views of the desolation of hertow^m 
and cities, by the ravages of iron-hearied, bloodthirsty soldiers, and o| 
the terrible catastrophe witnessed in ♦he destruction of Jerusaleia 
The narrative is interspersed with the writer's views of the literal f U 
filment of prophecy concerning the Jews, as illustrated in their extra- 
ordinary history, and with remarks contemplating their returning proa 
perity. Her occasional strictures on the hislory of the apostate Josephus, 
who evidently wrote to please his imi)erial masters, appear to have 
been well merited. The work is issued in an attractive and handsome 
volume." — Christian Observer. 

"If the present shuild prove to be Chprlotte Elizabeth's last work, 
she could not desire to take her departure from the field of literature 
with a better grace ; and we doubt not that it will be considered, if not 
the best, yet among the best of her productions. It is full of scripture 
ti'uth, illustrated bv the charm of a ujost powerful eloquence ; and no 
one, we should suppose, could read it without feeling a fresh interest 
in behalf of the Jewish nation, and a deeper impression of the truth 
and greatness, and ultimate triumph of Christianity." — Albany Daily 
Jidvertiser. 

"This volume contains a description of some of the most terrific 
scenes of which this earth has been the theatre. But instead of con 
lemplating them merely as a part of the world's history, it takes into 
view their connection with the great scheme of Providence, and shows 
how the faithful and retributive hand of God is at work amidst the 
fiercest tempest of human passion. The w^ork contains no small por 
tion of history, a very considerable degree of theology, and as much 
lieautiful imagery and stirring eloquence as we often find within the 
same limits. Those who have the other works from the same pen, 
will purchase this almost of course ; and they need have lo fear that 
rt will disappoint any expectation which its predecessors may have 
nwakened." — Albany Religious Spectator. 

AJso just published — 

*THE CHURCH VISIBLE IN ALL AGES." 

A work, malting attraction to the youthful as well as l}i« 
more mature mind, a deeply interesting and important subject 



All the foregoing are printed on clears white paper, and 
bound to match, making an attractive and beautiful set of 
books. They are sold in sets or separately, varying from 
25 to 50 cents per volume. When purchased for Sabbaik 
Schools, a liberal drduction is made from the above frices. 

7 



Books PubUb'heii atwc jor 6ale by M. W. Dodd. 

PURITAN HEROES; 

Or, Sketches of their Character and Times. By Jlhn 
Stoughton. With an Introductory Letter by Joel 
Hawes, D.D. 

"This is a well-piinted duodecimo volume, wherein is given a serie* 
&f admirable sketches of those noble minded men whose renunciations 
of existing glaring evils subjected them to so great a degree of suifering 
and calumniation. The present volume is not a continuous nor i» prosy 
history. It is more; for while the best and standard authorities, old 
MSS., and curious tracts, have been consulted in its compilation, it 
abounds with vivid and life like pictures of the principal characters 
and events in the time of the Puritans and Nonconformists. iS'o portion 
of English History can be more interesting than this, and none better 
deserves deep and earnest study." — JV. Y. Tribune, 

"The perusal of this volume has awakened in our heart more thAn 
our former love for the Puritans of the olden times, and given us a 
burning desire that every American citizen may possess, individually, 
as intense a regard for the memory of those men whose principles., re- 
ined like gold in the fires of intolerance and persecution, laid the 
tbundation on which the glorious superstructure of our Temple of 
Liberty has been erected. The pen of Stoughton has given to tJiese 
jserords of Puritan days all the vividness, power, and glory of life, ind 
^.ir. Dodd has published them in a style of beauty and elegance worthy 
of much commendation.'' —^Ibajiy Spectator. 

"The author has evidently written so as to adapt his style to th*s 
young, and thereby secure their attention to the toils and struggloi oi 
the early advocates of Truth, then imperfectly known, against ecclesi 
astical domination and spiritual tyranny. This we have no doubt lie 
will have acconiplished. The book is one of the most readable that 
has been issued from the religious press for years. We mean that it 
possesses a capiivation, both from the style and the subject, which is 
rarely found," — Methodist Protestant. 

"This book commemorates, in a thrilling and powerful manner, some 
of the greatest spirits of perhaps the most interesting period of British 
history. It shows us the struggles and heaviness of the free spirit as if 
was coming forth to ripen upon the earth. It is history, the most inter- 
esting — but not continuous history. It is highly and most justly reconi- 
^aended by Dr. Hawes." — Albany Express. 

"This w ork relates to a period when great truths were struggling into 
airth— when soul-liberty was assertef' and maintained at tlie expense 
o( fortune, reputation, friends, every Jiing : — a liberty which has long 
blessed our happy land; and which is extending a like boon to othet 
aaJions."— 77ig Trojan. 

" 7'his book is of decided interest. The limes to which it relates 
5he ch'tr?_cters it describes; the stirring events which it sketches ; and 
^le noble sentiments which it illustrates, lend to it a peculiar charm." 
— Biblical Repository. 

"The volume betore us gives an admirable insight into the charactLf 
and times of the Puritans. It is not a dry history, like Neal's: it is a 
•pirit-stirring review of the men and the age, in which every character 
and every scene lives before us. Here we may worship with 'the 
Isling.on Congregation' in the woods: here we may follow Barrov • and 
Greenwood, and Perry, to the gallows: here we may vritness th. em- 
barkation of the Pilgrim Fathers: here we may sit by the death-be of 
Owen, and Baxter, and Howe; and walk among the graves of met of 
nrhont the world is not worthy." — The Independent. 



Books Published and for Sale by M, W. Dodd. 
A WHEAT SHEAF 

GATHERED FROM OUR OWN FIELDS, 

By R C. Wood WORTH and T. S. Arthur. 1 vol. 12mou illusk 
trated with nearly Fiftt Engravings. No work of 11 le 
season has been more flatteringly noticed. 

**The preface to this volume is worthy of being printed in letters of 
gold. It is elegantly written, and full of meaning and instruction. We 
suspect it is from Mr, Woodworih, than whom, perhaps, no write* 
knows better how to write for children and youth. The contents of the 
volume are a joint production, about equally divided. Mr. Arthur has 
shown himself skilful, in this most difficult kind of writing. Altogether, 
it is a sweet volume, and got up with all the elegance of an annual." — 
jV. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 

''We have scarcely ever seen a more tasteful and attractive book: its 
line embellishments, and elegant printing and binding, render it beauti- 
fully ornamental. Its contents possess that variety of subjects, and tliat 
familiar, easy, and graceful style, so well adapted to engage the hearts 
of the young, and for which we think both these authors— particularly 
Mr. Wood worth— have uncommon tact and ability. The pieces are brief, 
full of meaning, and never without some definite aim of instruction or 
moral impression. That it will be attractive and useful, parents and the 
f/iends of the young may be assured." — jV. Y. Evangdist. 

" The two authors, contributing about equal portions, have produced 
a volume, which, we are sure, will find a cordial welcome among the 
gift books of the season. The volume is very neatly printed and embel- 
lished." — JV. Y. Journal of Commerce. 

''This is the title of an elegant gift book for children, which, both in 
mechanical beauty, and the excellence of its contents, is quite above the 
average of such publications." — Boston Chronotype. 

"A beautiful book for the young, with many tine engravings — storiea 
short, interesting, and of good moral tendency." — Youtks'' Companion. 

" A very attractive and ornamental volume for the young; prepared 
by gentlemen who have much experience and taste in providing for the 
wants of this important class of readers. The articles of prose and 
verse are well composed, refined in their style, and instructive in their 
moral, while the embellishments are neat, chaste, and adapted to the 
Tolume and its readers." — JV. Y. Observer. 

*' This is a beautiful gift book, consisting of some of the choicest of the 
productions of the two gifted writers whose names appear on the title 
page. It is handsomely illustrated, and got up in splendid style."— ./2i- 
%any Evening Atlas. 

ANECDOTES OF THE PURITANS.— i vol. i8mo, 

"They give a picture of Puritan life, full of interest, besides conveying 
most important truths and k^sons. As it is a kind of reading delightful 
to the young, and as the anecdotes give a just and exalted view of the 
Puritan character, we would commend the book to parents, as one of 
unusual value. It may be read by every one with great profit am* 
Interest." — JV. Y. Evangelist. 

"A little book, that contains many great truths, many lessons of Chri« 
Cian fortitude and resignation, and unbending in tegity ."—Commercaw 
Advertiser. 



Books Published and for Sale hy M, TF. Uodd. 

FRANK FORREST; 

Or the Life of an Orphan Boy. By David M. Sroy*. 

Beautifully Illustrated. 

''We advise any of our readers, be they old or young, who wish to 
keep their eyes uiimoislened through the holidays, not to read this little 
book. It would not be safe for ihein— we speak from experience. Yet 
have we met with few books more worthy of ihe place claimed for it 
^in the parlor, the play-room, and the Sunday school library.- " — JV. Y, 
Presbyterian. 

''This admirable moral tale should be found in every family circle, 
district and Sabbath scliool library. Its religious, as well as its moral 
teachings, are worthy of careful note, and we doubt not will prove to 
the writer 'bread cast upon the water*,' that will return after many 
days, a harvest of blessimrs from those whom it has benefited. It ia 
published in a neat, prettily illustrated volume." — Sat. Ev. Gazette. 

"This handsome and attractive volume contains a record of the 
strange vicissitudes which marked the eventful life of an orphan. It is 
admirably written, and inculcates most salutary lessons in Christian 
morals, in connection with the narrative. It is elegantly printed and 
embellished." — Christian Observer. 

"We know not how much of this little book is fancy, and how much 
of it fact; but it is certainly an ingenious and striking narrative, and 
well fitted to awaken the syrnpathies and improve the hearts of the 
young." — Albany Argus. 



To he Published about 20th April, 

THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE IN ABYSSINIA. 

By Bishop Gobat. With a Geographical and Historical 
Account of the Country. Prefaced with a Biographi 
CAL Sketch of the Author by Robert Baird, D.D. — Thif 
will be a work of surpassing interest. 



MONTAIGNS 

With the Endless Study, and o'^heh Mij50ellantbs!« 

By Alexander Vinet. 



SKETCHES OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANTERS 

By Dr. Aldex 



MARY OF GREEN RIVERS 
A True Story of Genius Suffering, and Religiom. 



Books Published and for Sale hy M. W. Dodd. 



APOSTOLIC BAPTISM. 

Pacts and Evidences on the Sui>,ECTs and Modes of Chbi^ 
TiAN Baptism. By C. Taylor, Editor of Calmet s Dic- 
tionary OF the Bible. With 13 engravings. r2mo, 

•* We are glad to see a revised and stereotyped edition of this learned 
and valuable work on the baptismal controversy. It is not necessary, 
at this Inle day, to speak of its peculiar merits. We are not aware that 
these 'Facts and Evidences' here presented, have ever been invuli- 
dated, either in this country or in Great Britain, and if not, they are 
certainly entitled to no little weight in favor of the arguments of Paedo- 
baptists, both as to the subjects of Christian baptism and the apostolic 
mode." — Biblical Repository^ 

*'This work has given no little trouble to immersionists. The facta 
of Mr. Taylor have never been denied, to our knowledge; nor have his 
evidences ever been disproved. The work before us has acquired a 
reputation which our endorsement cannot materially increase." — Prince- 
tani Review. 

" The American editor presents this volume to the American Churches, 
as the authentic delineation of original Christian Baptism — with the 
assured conviction, that an erudite polemic cannot be found who will 
seriously controvert Mr. Taylor's oracular position — 'Baptism, from 
the day of Pentecost, was administered by the Apostles and Evangel- 
ists, to Infants, and not by submersion :' the Facts and Evidences sus- 
taining this position, he regards as irrefutable, as the truth is in Jesus. 
*'The book displays wonderful research, and brings out the proof 
from philology and ecclesiastical history, with a distinctness and force 
perhaps never excelled. It even proves that the warrant for baptizing 
infants is more certain, or less open to cavils, than if that word hafi 
been employed in the command, or in the narration of examples of 
baptism— because a fei-m is used of more certain meaning, which un- 
questionably includes little children. The work was published in Eng- 
land moie than thirty years ago, and no Baptist author has yet at- 
tempted to disprove the facts, or to deny the evidences here adduced* 
in favor of Ptedobaptist principles and practice."— C/iW^^ian Mirror. 

" This is a very curious book. It commences the argument in respeci 
to baptism at the right starting point, and enforces it by reasoning of 
the must convincing character. It seeks to carry back the interpreter 
of the teachings of the Scriptures, to the time when the New Testament 
was written, and to enable him to read the passages under circura- 
fitances, like those under which they were originally heard. The en- 
giiivings, which are copies of the oldest representations of the adminis- 
ij-ation of the rite of baptism, in pictures, sculptures, and mosaics, 
epoiik f'yrcibly to the eye and the mind."— JVezo Evglander. 

''I'his is unquestionably the greatest work ever published on this 
question. It has been thirty years chfLllenffing examination, and no 
Haptist minister, so far as we know, has dared to touch it. No minis- 
ter Bhould be without il. Remember, it it3 a body of Texts and Evi- 
dences. The history of the book is interesting, but we have not room 
U) give it. It ought to be in every Sunday school library. It has thir' 
ieen engravings^ themselves, as evidences, worth the price. The book 
^as had an immense circulation in Europe and America. We wish 
aome plan could b(; devised to put it iu every family of our chm-ch.'^— 
Southern Methodist Pulpit. 



Books Published and for Sale by M, W, Dodd. 

THE MERCY SEAT; 

Thoughts suggested by the Lord^s Prayer. By Gardineh 
Spring, D.D. 

" In this volume intrinsic excellence and mechanical beauty are well 
combined. Richness and maturity of evangelical thought and senti- 
ment are its characteristics ; the ripe experience of a devout Christian 
clusters on every page ; it is full of •• marrow and fatness, of wine on the 
lees well refined,' and contains food for both heart and intellect. 'The 
Mercy Seat' will be— cannot but be — highly prized by Christians of all 
denominations." — Commercial Advertiser. 

"We regard it as the most valuable of all the distinguished author's 
valuable works. It is a book for the family and the closet, and is 
equally well adapted to profit the plainest Christian, and the most cul- 
livated man of letters."— JV'. Y. Observer. 

'*The present work is among the author's happiest productions. We 
Ihink it surpasses them all in richness of instruction, tenderness of 
spirit, earnestness and fidelity of appeal, and power to awaken and 
sway the best feelings of the sanctified heart. His general observations 
on prayer, and his remarks on the matter and manner of prayer, are 
most excellent, and worthy of careful and thorough study."— £i6. Rep. 

" The volume contains some of his best and most interesting dia- 
eourse, and cannot fail to be most heartily welcomed by the religious 
public. The style in which it is published is exceedingly neat and at- 
tractive." — JV*. Y. Courier and Inquirer, 

"It is a delightful work, and replete with noble Christian views, 
which ought to obtain in all spheres, and to exert a^ influence upon 
all minds."— JV. Y. Evangelist. 

" This volume will not please because it contains ingenious specula- 
tions or startling novelties; but because it presents the old, rich 
themes of Gospel truth in a clear and chaste style. The doctrinal 
and the practical are happily blended in its discussions— not a page 
is dull or dry. The author's judicious remarks on *■ Forms of Prayer' 
are commended to all who would like to see this subject kindly exhib- 
ited in its true light— the Bible and the History of the Church. We 
say to all, get ' The Mercy Seat' by Dr. Spring." — JVewark Daily Ad- 
vertiser. 

" It is certainly one of the most favorable exhibitions of Dr. Spring's 
powers in illustrating and enforcing truths of the highest moment. His 
theme is a delightful one, and the method of treating it is all that could 
be desired. The publisher has presented it in a very attractive dress." 
— Phil. Presbyterian. 

"This work is in Dr. Spring's best style,— vigorous, perspicuous, and 
l&reathing the true Christian spirit. It is not a book intended si*nply 
for the closet. It seizes upon man in his daily walks — amidst the cares 
©f his business — at his desk or in his workshop, and recalls him to a 
%ense of his divine relations — and is worthy of a place in the choicest 
ciche of the library." — Journal of Commerce. 

" We give a cordial welcome to this new work of Dr. Spring. It ia 
refreshing to meet with a book like this, so clear and chaste in style, sc 
fraught with important instruction, and above all, so eminently spirituii 
In its tone, and so well fitted to promote devotional feeling." — JV. Y. 
Presbyterian. 

" A rich and valuable work, replete with the distinguished author 
best thoughts on a great subject, of universal interest— the communir- 
e^ man, weak, sinful and mortal, with the Infinite Jehovah, his God » 
Skviour." — Christian Observer. 



II 



Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dodd. 

THE ATTRACTION OF THE CROSS. 

The Attraction of . the Cross, desin:ned to illustrate the 

leading Truths, Obligations and Hopes of Christianity 

By Gardiner Spring, D.D. 12mo. Fourth edition. 

* -We are not surprised to hear that Mr. Podd, the publisher, has al- 

ready issued the third edition of the Attraction of the Cross, bv the Rev 

Dr.bpnng. it is the ablest and most finished production of its author! 

and will undoubtedly take its place in that most enviable position in the 

family, as a volume of standard reading, to be the comfort of the aged 

Wp i^clf .'f ^^! ' 'T"^^r We commend it as one of the most valua- 
ble issues of the press."— iST. Y. Observer. 

Hl'^w.i!f"''/'''^'"?7' r^'^y-^^y volume of sermons, but the rich, 
dilnHnn ff fi? ^ cultivated mind-the result of long and systematic 
devotion to the proper work of the Christian ministry! We regard Dr. 
i)pring as one of the most accomplished preachers of the country. We 
never heard him preach a weak discourse ; and whenever he appears 

^f^'Ih/c o iP''-'\;* u 'V^f '^''^i' ^^ ^'^^^"^ ^"d power. A careful perusal 
of this admirable book has afforded us great pleasure. We do not won- 

JliI!l!f/''^''Tf ' ^h^c^^e announced two weeks ago, and which we then 
Srlfpn^T^QP'"'^" t' ^' *^'r'^ excellent and valuable work yet 
writ en by Dr Spring has more than equalled our expectations. ..... 

We trust that every tamily in our land will read this precious work. 
H^.;?^nni"!^?^r "" beautifully and attractively the leading truths, obi 
rf i «r f 7k ^P'^' ^! Christianity, as reflected from the Cross of 
t/hrist." — Albany Spectator. 

^" y^^,,^^''^;>^« '^v^'^ neatly-printed volume does not prove one of the 
most attractive religious works of the day. It presents the nracticai 
truths of religion, which all ought to know, free f?om the snirit of sect- 

hn?,;!'?.-' ^'^'^^r'^'"'^- ^^' ^^^^^ ^^' vr^V^r^d for permanent use, and 
bids as fair, perhaps, as any book of the kind in our times, to live and 
speak long after the author shall have gone to test the realises he h^ 
80 eloquently described."-yow7-r/aZ of Commerce 

«. ../• ^''?r^'' '"'^'^ "^f ^' y^^"^'^ '^^ ^""^ occasion recently to announce, 
Trlv'^i n'i^ commended elsewhere. A New-York letter in the Boston 
A\p If .w-' '"i7^^''??' '\,^Z notice:-' A new work of Dr Spring 
fhl nfv I't^ '^'^'T' 5''lH'^ Published by M. W. Dodd, of 
this city. , . The Attraction of the Cross " is destined to live aminff 
the very best productions of the church with which its respected a tho? 
IS connected. The style is remarkably pure, the arnintpments of the 
f^ftoSp ?p"' "^^thodical, and the arguments add'e^sed w th grla? 
forc^ to the reason and conscience. It will stand by the side of ^'Dod- 
dridge's Rise and Progress," " Wilberforce's Vie^' or he " Way tf 

'^2^u'^r 'I ^k'"^'^ generations.' --Newark Daily Adl 
Whol ercacnr l- f '^' T '•'''''' ''^''^ ^^ ' volume has won. 
Who l.^^ e read it. b ,.t comprehensiveness of views, beauty of style and 
excellence and fervor of devotional feeling, few wirks hav lite v an 
pearod that surpass it '-New-York EvavUisU ^'^' ^^"^ uteiy ap 
1 he grand relations of the Cross, its hoty influences its comforts anr! 
t ChH J;^n'' "'^ ^f f.^^^bibited in 'a manner cheorhiV o thT heart of 
the Christian. And the perusal of this book will, we venture to Lt 
greatly assist and comfort the children of Goa.yipreXuri^r^ 

9 



Books Published and for Sale by M. W, Dodd. 



AN EARNEST MINISTRY, 

The Want op the Times. By John Angell James. Witb 
AN Introduction by Rev. J. B. Condit, V>.\y.^ op New- 
ARK, N. J. 

"There is a power in the very title of this book. It strikes home t« 
the convictions of every mind that is wakeful to the condition and wanti 
of the church. ' An Earnest Ministry.' The ear tingles with the sound, 
it stirs up thought ; it lingers in the memory ; it turns into prayer. 

" ' Has the evangelical pulpit lost, and is it likely to lose any of itt 
power?' is the question with which the veteran preacher and autnoi 
commences his discussion. In the progress of his own earnest mind 
thrcmgh the several stages of this subject, he begins with the ministry 
Df tne Apostles, linding his theme in it; examines the nature of ear* 
nestness, and shows its appropriateness in him who handles the word 
of life, in respect to its matter, manner, and practice; illustrates his 
points by numerous quotations and biographical notices ; and from the 
whole, gathers motives of great power to bear on the conscience of the 
professional reader. 

♦' We wish that we could lay a copy on the table of every pastor, and 
put it into the portmanteau of every missionary in tljys land : we should 
feel quite sure that the Sabbath following, at least, would bear witness 
to its effect; and we should hope for still more enduring results. And 
we could scarcely imagine a more useful appropriation of money, than 
would be made by supplying the young men of our own Theological 
Seminaries, with each a copy of this exhibition of an 'earnest minis- 
try.' " — JV*. Y. Observer. 

" We read this work with the greatest interest. A more impressive, 
truth telling, pungent appeal to the ministry, we have never met with. 
This noble, stirring effort to infuse new life and energy into the minis- 
try cannot be too highly praised. Without attempting an analysis of 
its contents, we beg to assure our brethren, that of all useful and able 
productions of this author, this is by far the most useful and able. 
There are hints, and appeals, and principles in it, of incalculable im- 
portance, and of most awakening interest." — JV. Y. Evangelist. 

'* Every work of his we have read meets an exigency — in other 
words, is opportune to the state of the Church, and shows profound 
thought, thorough investigation, and withal, is given in a chaste and 
vigorous style. This last volume in no sense fall^i behind— there is a 
clearness, a comprehension, and a power in it, which makes it com- 
pare with anything he has written; and throughout it is an illustration 
of the very earnestness he commends. Dr. Condit of Newark, has 
written a very judicious introduction to the volume. We feel thai 
Mr. James may well be taken by young men in Theological training, 
and ministers generally, as their oracle on the importance of earnest- 
ness in the ministry." — Christian Intelligencer. 

"His specimens and illustrations, drawn from the most eminent divines 
of ancient and modern days, and of various countries, are extremely apt 
and interesting. By the method he has pursued, Mr. J. has given us a 
kind of biographical library of the ministry, in such a manner as to im- 
press their excellencies upon the memory, and to inspire a wish to imi- 
tate them. The work is richly worthy of the perusal of the class fo- 
whom it is specially designed." — Christian Review. 

"Not to make a book, but to do good, seems to have been the who^o 
object in view. All our ministers, especially the younger, should giv« 
this book a reading, and we believe its circulation generally among oui 
people would be productive of great benefit to the whole Church."- 
Metkodist Pulpit. 10 



Books Published and for Scde by M. W. Dodd. 



IS CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD? 

Or a Manual op Bible Evidence for the People. By 
Rev. John Cummings, D.D., Minister of the Scot- 
tish National Church in London. With an Intro* 
DUCTioN BY Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen. 

"Let no one neglect thi3 volume because its subject is one that has 
been ably and unanswerably handled before. If we mistake not, it haa 
Bome traits of superiority over any that has preceded it. As a manual 
of arguments against infidel assaults and sceptical insinuations we do 
not think of another that we should call its equal." 

" Here is a book that we can heartily commend. Its title, " Is Chris- 
tianity from God? or a Manual of Bible Evidence for the People,'- indi- 
cates the character of the work. The author attempts no new theory — 
no new and startling truths— for these are not found in the Bible ; but 
with singular ability he has explored the old truths of revelation, and 
shown conclusively that the Bible is from God. * * * 

"Its positions are taken with so much confidence, and held with so 
much quiet ease, that the reader can scarcely fail to feel a kind of con- 
tempt for the delirious twattling of upstarts, whose intellectual calibre 
is simply of the capacity to doubt what a manly intellect has estab- 
lished." — Religious Recorder. 

" In an age like the present, when scepticism is so fashionable, a 
work like this cannot fail to produce a wholesome influence on the mind 
of the resLder:^— Christian Secretary, 

" This work is an able one. It treats of very grave subjects, in an 
earnest and practical manner. The work will arrest the attention of 
earnest thinkers, whether sceptics or Christians. The Introduction by 
Mr. Frelinghuysen is brief, neat, pertinent, and highly commendatory 
of the body of the book."— The Republican. 

"This is an able and valuable work on a most important subject, 
which the author has illustrated in a style and manner that cannot fail 
to interest that numerous class of readers for whom it was intended. It 
is a good standard book for the Christian family lihra.ry.^^— Christian 
Observer. 

"It is a wo'l: admirably calculated to enlighten the inquirer after 
truth, and to confirm the pious in the truth of the Christian Religion." 
— Baltimore .American. 

" For all classes this is an admirable summary — compendious but 
complete— of the evidences of Christianity. Its style is more polished, 
and its learning more profound than Nelson's ; but it is well adapted to 
carry conviction to plain minds, and to suggest to the Christian argu- 
ments and facts for the defence of his faith. The moral ari^ument is 
brought out with great strength ; and also that from prophecy." — The 
Independent. 

"We earnestly recommend the circulation of this volume. Where 
skepticism exists, here is strong argument, freshly presented, to nettle 
the belief: where general confidence in the Bible exists, here are de- 
tailed proofs to give it corroboration." — Princeton Review. 



Books PuUislied atidfor Sale hy M, W, Dodd. 



GOSPEL STUDIES. 

By Alexander Vinet, D.D., Author op Vital Christian- 
ity, WITH AN Introduction by Dr. Baird. 

"These discourses are remarkable for originality and beanty of 
fhonght and elegance of diction. They are unlike anything that we 
ever read— they are delightful."— />a//y Evening- Traveller, 

" Vinet, beyond any writer of our day, was characterized by the per- 

Cetual progress from novelty to novelty. The originality of Vinet ia 
is principal charm. He treats the most ccnnmon topics of theology 
with a freshness which fascinates us like a discovery. In the conduct 
of his metaphors, he so fuses the thought in the illustration, as to give 
the mostfomiliar truths the brlllinncy of inventions; and by penetrating 
and profound analysis reveals new relations of truth which elude com- 
mon sagacity, and are indeed so many new truths. We believe the pe- 
rusal of this volume will be an excellent discipline for those whose 
religious views need enlivening; all here is full of nobleness, aspiring 
speculation, and enthusiastic love." — Literary IVorld. 

"They possess the peculiar characteristics of French sermonizing— 
lively, abrupt, strikingly beautiful in description, and artistically ar- 
ranged." — JV*. Y. Evangelist. 

"Vinet has been styled "the Chalmers of Switzerland," but his man- 
ner is different, although his thoughts are net less brilliant. In his style, 
Vinet is original. He was a profound th'.nker, and in communicating 
his ideas he knows how to make others think. No one can read these 
admirable discourses without entering into the spirit and feelings of the 
author, nor without gaining new and valuable ideas from him."— C'Ari*- 
tian Secretary. 

"The writer had a most versatile as well as a most discriminating 
and powerful mind ; and probably deserved, more than almost any other 
writer, to be called, in the beet sense of the word, a philosophical Chris- 
tian. He is equally at home in the heights and in the depths: and hi3 
range of thought seems illimitable." — Albany Argus. 

" Gospel Studies" contains much that is adapted to stir the soul, to 
nourish piety, and to enlarge one's range of thoughts in certain direc- 
tions." — Watchman and Reflector. 

"Simplicity, beauty, original thought, and ardent piety, are the prom- 
inent attributes of the author's mind as developed in this work. There 
is a freshness in his views which will delight the intelligent reader." — 
C/iristian Oh&erver. 

"Such is the title of one of the best books on the subject of relig'oa 
fiiat vre have seen for many a day. In an introduction of a few pages, 
Dr. Bsiird gives a short notice of the life of Dr. Vinet, whom he pro- 
aouLces the great<ist philosopher that the Continent, if not Europe, hai 
produced in ou? times. He has been called the Chalmers of Switzer- 
Uir.d, but not very correctly. He was rather the John Foster. But he 
fcad a min'i far more clear and discriminating than that of the great 
Biititsh Essayist just named. It has a freshness about it, and is so re- 
lieved from the usual style of an English- or American mind that \l 
ftWPicecB and excites attentions at every step." — Journal of Csmmerce. 



Books Published and for Sale by M, W. Dodd^ 

PASTORAL REMINISCENCES, 

With an Introduction by Dr. A. Alexander, of Princeton.— 
1 vol. 12mo. 

"This volume consists of sketches of several marked characters, relig^ 
lous and irreligious, each filling a chapter, and presenting, in a just and 
forcible light, some important truth, illustrating and enforcing some 
duty, or sounding a solemn warning against some danger. Both in sub- 
jects, method, principles and style, it is adapted to practical use ; and we 
do not see how any reader can well fail to derive real benefit from the 
perusal of any page. The work is evidently what it professes to be, an 
accurate record of facts, in all its details, and the author must have 
possessed not only a power of discrimination, evangelical opinions, and 
a zeal and spirit becoming a Christian pastor, but a happy faculty in 
describing what he saw and felt. The reader is interested for good rea- 
sons, instructed in the right way, and impressed by right means. We can 
recommend it as attractive to young persons as well as old, and useful 
♦0 all." — JV. Y. Presbyterian, 

" They are represented to be pictures of actual occurrences iu the 
course of his ministry, and wear an air of truth which makes it easy to 
believe them to be so. They are told with tact, and often with touches 
of exquisite feeling ; and all illustrate important principles of truth and 
nature." — JV*. Y. Evangelist. 

" All these narratives are valuable and instructive, and must richly re- 
pay a thorough perusal." — Relig. Recorder. 

THE MOURNER COMFORTED ; 

Or, Extracts Consolatory on the Loss of Friends. By 
Rev. Thomas Lope. — 32mo. 

** A neat, well-printed little volume of extracts in prose and verse, de- 
cigned to comfort and console the mourner for the loss of friends. They 
are judiciously selected from the best writers, and well adapted to sub- 
serve the purpose for which they are designed." — Christian Secretary, 

*'The selections are made with good taste, and are adapted to a great 
variety of circumstances in life. The volume is an excellent gift-book ; 
when a friend would, at the same time, manifest sympathy, and gir© 
counsel."— i2e%. Recorder. 

LIFE OF CLARINDA MAPES; 

OR, EARLY PIETY EXEMPLIFIED. 

By Rev. J. Bailey. 

•* A very beautiful exemplification it is, of the elevating, purifying nature 
of religion. The narrative discloses a remarkable instance of preco» 
clous development of devoted, earnest piety, some of the features of whicb 
are well worth the study of professors, young and old."— JV. Y. Ev<u¥ 
feliaU 



jBooks Pvhlished and for Sale hy M, W, Dodd. 



CRUDEN'S COMPLETE CONCORDANCE. 



A COMPLETE CONCORDANCE 

TO THE 

HOLY SCRIPTURES 

OF THE 

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT; 

OR, A 

DICTIONARY AND AlPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE BIBLE: 

Very useful to all Christians who seriously read and study the 
inspired writings. 

IN TWO PARTS: 

CONTAINING, 

I. The Appellative or Common Words in so full and large a manner, 
that any verse may be readily found by looking for any material word 
Id it. In this part the various significations of the principnl words are 
given ; by which the true meaning of many passages of Scripture is 
shown; an account of several Jewish Customs and Ceremonies is also 
added, which may serve to illustrate many parts of Scripture. 

]I. The Proper Names in the Scriptures. To this p-irt is prefixed a 
Table, containing the signification of the words in the original lan- 
gaages from which they are derived. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED 

A CONCORDANCE TO THE BOOKS CALLED 
APOCRYPHA. 

The whole digested in an easy and regular method : which, together 
with the various significations and other improvements now added, ren- 
ders it more useful than any book of the kind hitherto pul)lished. 

BY ALEXANDER CRUDEN, M.A. 

Vmtn the Tenth I^endon Editioti^ carefully revised and corrected by tk§ 
Holy Scriptures. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED 

AN ORIGINAL LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 

•'Ever since the first publication of Cruden's Concordance, in 1736, it 
hoLB maintained the acknowledged reputation of being the very best 
work of the kind in the English language. Indeed, no other has evec 
14 



Books Published and for Sale hy M. W. Dodd. 



degerved to be even compared to it. It maintains its superiority- still ; 
and probably will ever hold that pre-eminence. 

♦• We speak of the complete edition, which is here presented to the 
public. A work in the market called Cruden's Concordance being only 
ft compilation from the complete work, ?nd wanting many of its most 
valuable features. To abridge this work of Cruden, as it came from hia 
finishing hand, would be to make it nearly valueless to ninety-nine oi 
every hundred who need a concordance. And of all aids to an accurate 
understanding of the Bible, we believe Cruden's complete Concordance 
to be the best." 

"Dear Sir:— I have carefully compared your edition of Cruden*s 
Concordance with a fine English edition, and find it true to the oi-iginal. 
Knowing, from many years' use, the value of Cruden, I cannot bnt be 
flad that you have thus presented a cheap edition of his invaluable 
work to the American public. I find in your copy an unimpaired, com- 
plete Cruden. This is not the case with another American edition, 
published last year. In that, great liberties are taken with the original 
work— such as abridgments, omissions, &c., greatly reducing the 
amount of its contents, and in the same proportion diminishing it.^ 
value. A student of the Bible needs a concordance in which he can 
find every passage he wants. Your edition is just such an one." 

"We know, from long use, this full and admirable reprint of the 
original Cruden's Concordance ; and we think that the whole value of 
the work depends upon its being complete and entire; and that its 
great value would be impaired seriously by the omission of a single 
word or reference." 

"The high price at which this gigantic work has been necessarily 
gold hitherto, has prevented thousands from purchasing it. A complete 
edition, with the very latest corrections, with the notes of the author 
and every line of the London edition faithfully given, is now published, 
as above, for only two dollars. It is the best commentary on the 
Bible that was ever made : it is worth more to the diligent and devout 
»tudent than the whole of Henry or Scott, or any other critic, and we 
would part with all our commentaries rather than with Cruden's Con- 
cordance. It ought to be in every intelligent family, and we presume 
that the low price at which it is now sold will be the means of putting 
it Into the hands of many who would not otherwise have obtained it/ 

THE PREACHER AI>4D PASTOR; 

A Collection of Standard Treatises on Preaching, and Pastoral t)alie^ 
containing Fenelon's Dialogues, on Eloquence, Herbert's Country Parson, 
S' Reformed PasU)r, Campbell's Lectures «" P^»P'J Eloqueno|S 
and other Esaavs of English Divines. Edited, with an Introductory 
Essay, by Professor Park, of Andover Seramary. j ^ 



Books Published and for Sale hy M. W. Dodd. 



MACKNIGHT'S EPISTLES. 

A NEW LITERAL TRANSLATION 
FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK, 

OP ALL THE 

APOSTOLICAL EPISTLES. 

WITH A 

COMiVIENTARY AND NOTES, 

PhUological, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical, 

TO WHICH IS ADDED 

A HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF THE APOSTLE PAPl. 

BY JAMES MACKNIGHT, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF A HARMONY OF THB G0SPKL3, ETC. 

A New Edition, to which is prefixed an Account of the Life 
of the Author. 



KNAPP'S THEOLOGY. 

LECTURES 

ON 

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. 

BY 
GEORGE CHRISTIAN KNAPP, D.D., 

PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IX THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE. 

TRANSLATED BY LEONARD WOODS, JUN., D.D., PRESIDENT Of 

BOWDOIN COLLEGE, BRUNSWICK, MAINE. 

Third American edition, reprinted from the \sl&\ Londoo 
edition. 

11 



Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dodd. 

LECTURES ON THEOLOGY. 

By the late Rev. John Dick D.D. 2 vols, 8vo. 

"The Theological Lectures of Dr. Dick have been long enough be- 
fore the public to have acquired a high reputation. They are able, ju- 
dicious, and concise, and possess such advantages of arrangement and 
method, as to render the work extreujely convenient for a class-book, 
and for general reference. A Professor in the United Session Church 
in Scotland, the general tone of the theology of his work will not need 
to be defined. It is consistently and decidedly Calvinistic, without 
being excessively strained. The calm and courteous spirit of all the 
Doctor's discussions — the fairness and urbanity shown towards oppo- 
nents, and the judicious qualitications with which what he regards the 
truths of his system are asserted, give the work a pleasing, and, at the 
same time, a rare characteristic. The elegant style, too, in which the 
dry themes of abstract theology are presented, always agreeable and 
chaste, and often rising to true eloquence, ought not to be forgottea 
among the excellencies of the book. We can say of this work, that for 
a systematic, concise, and well- composed manuHl on theology, there in 
hardly a superior to be had ; and, without excluding oth^r works of the 
kind, or the more elaborate treatises on particular doctrines, it is one 
that should find a place in every well-appointed clerical library." — 
Biblical Repository. 



BAPTISM. 

By Absalom Peters, D. D. 

** A very ingenious, learned, and intelligible argument to prove that 
sprinkling is the only mode of Baptism made known in the Scriptures 
and the Scripture warrant for Intknt Baptism. We have examined it 
with real interest and satisfaction, and we commend it to the attention 
of all who would study the subject, whatever may be their -present 
views." — JVeto York Observer. 

"The Berkshire Association, in requesting the publication of these 
lectures, entitle them ' .8 short method of settling the question.' So it 
will strike the reader, who peruses with candor the clear and cogent 
argumentation by which point after point is established. In many re* 
gpects, this argument is new ; and it is conducted with such clear rea- 
soning, and in language and statement so explicit, as to adapt it well 
for general circulation among the churches." — JV. Y. Evangelist. 

"That works like that heading this article are well adapted to end 
the controversy on this oft-mooted subject, by the Catholicism of their 
spirit, the clearness of their arguing, and the simplicity of their style, 
will hardly be questioned. In each of these respects, to say nothing 
of others, it is admirable. The Baptist himself must confess to the 
uniform candor of the author, and acknowledge the all-pervading suavi- 
ter in modo, even if he deny the fortiter in re, in the conduct of the ar* 
gument. That ' sprinkling'is the only mode of baptism made known by 
the Scriptures,' is a startling: proposition in the ears of many, and re- 
quires accurate definition and severe logical argument, as well as cloai 
Scriptural testimony to sustain it And it is believed that such difinU 
tion, argument and testimony, are here combined, as cannot be ovai> 
thrown." — J^ew England Puritan. 
12 



Beoks tublished and for Sa^t by M W. Dodcu 

THE BOOK THAT WILL SUIT YOU ; 

Or a Word for Every One. By Rev. James Smith. Author oi 
" Believer's Oaily Remembrancer," &c. 

** An elegant little hand book of some 300 pages 16mo., and by an En 
jlish author its contents are a rare selection of topics, treated briefly 
D suit the cir umstances of those who have fifteen or twenty minutes 
JO spend in r ading, which it would be wicked to throw away, and yet 
Jiscouraging to commence a heavier volume. ' The Successful Mo- 
mer,' 'Th' Child's Guide,' * The Husband's example,' 'The Wife's 
Rule,' — th'-se are some of the topics taken promiscuous, y frcm the 
book ; ano they show the author's mind to be travelling in the right di 
rection, ^- Iz. : towards the theory of life's daily practice. We hope 
that the time is near when Christian parlors will be emptied of ' The 
Book ot Fasliion,' ' Somebody's Lady's Book,' etc., etc., made up of 
love stories mawkishly told, and other drivelling nonsense ; and their 
places supplied with works like the ' Book that will Suit you'— no less 
pleasing, and far more useful." 

GRACE ABOUNDING TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS, 

In a faithful account of the Life and death of John Bunyan, 
pp. 176. 

*' We a'e nleased to see a very handsome edition of this admirable 
treatise. It is ju^' "^'Jblished, and will be eagerly sought after by all 
who admire the spini and genius of this remarkable man whose ' Pil- 
grims Progress' stands nearly if not quite at the head of religious lite 
rature." 

KIND WORDS FOR THE KITCHEN ; 

Or Illustrations of Humble Life. By Mrs. Copley. 

"This admirable little volume is the production of Mrs. Esther 
Copley, (late Mrs. Hewlett,) whose popularity as an authoress has long 
been established upon both sides of the Atlantic. The welfare of that 
interesting and important part of society who discharge the domestic 
duties of life has long engaged the attention of this distinguished and 
accomplished lady. 

"We have rea'd the 'Kind Words for the Kitchen,' with a firm con- 
viction that it is the best work we have ever seen in so small a com 
pass for its designed purpose ; it suggests all that a sense of duty would 
load the head of a well regulated household to advise, and having 
loaned the book to ladies distinguished for their judgment and skill as 
heads of well-governed families, they have urged its publication with 
a few omissions of matter deemed inappropriate to our country. 

" We believe almost every Christian lady will be glad to place such & 
manual of sound instruction in the hands of her domestics, and that 
which is kindly bestowed will generally be gratefully received. With 
an assurance that the general diffusion of this book would accomplish 
a most valuable service in binding together more closely the interest! 
of the employer and ihe employed, and softening down the asperities 
which so frequently grow out of the ill performed duties cf the hous*> 
hold sphere, we should rejoice to know that this little volume wai 
placed by the side of the Bible in even Vitchen of our rountry.' 

17 



Books Published and for Sale hy M, W, Dodd. 

WAY OF SALVATION. 

By David Russell, D.D. 

"The author is a distinguished minister of the Dissenting Congrega 
t^onal body in Scotland, having an important pastoral charge in Dun- 
dee. His views are clear, comprehensive, and practical. This volume 
addresses a most interesting class of the human family — those who art 
awakened and inquiring on the subject of religion, and appears to be a 
safe and profitablq^^irectory." — Religious Recorder. 

THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 

By the Author of " The Listener," " Christ our 

Example," &c. 

••This book is so plain and simple as to be within the legitimate range 
of any comprehension, and yet so strongly marked by vigorous concep- 
tions and enlarged views of truth, that the student of theology, or the 
minister of the Gospel, may read it with abundant profit. It is evi- 
dently the production of a mind not accustomed to repose on the sur- 
face of things, and is dictated by a spirit that has been accustomed to 
intimate communion with the fountain of light and purity." — Albany 
Statesman. 

HAVE ME EXCUSED! 

By Ezra D. Kinney, 

Pastor of Ccng. Church in Darien, Conn. 

"The pious author of this neat volume has here given a practical 
exposition of the parable of the Great Supper, in which he has urged 
the wonderful fulness of the Gospel offer of salvation, and scattered the 
excuses which sinners make for not accepting the invitation." — JV. V. 
Observer. 

WIN3LOW ON THE ATONEMENT. 

EIxperimental and Practical Views of the Atonement. 
By Octavius Winslow. l8mo. 

"This is the first of a series of works which the author designs to 
publish, of ' Experimental and Practical Views of Divine Truth:' ani 
if all those forthcoming prove as valuable as this, they must greatly 
bless the Christian Church. The work before us is a mirror, inwbich 
Christ, in his atoning sacrifice, is reflected in the face of the Church, and 
in which she beholds her entire beauty, righteousness, and eternal life, 
M hid with Christ in God.'' — Albany Spectator. 

THE PILGRIM'S NOTE BOOK; 

OR, CHOICE SAYINGS ILLUSTRATIVE OF CHRISTIAN 
CHARACTER AND DUTY. 

Selected by Mrs. F. L. Smith. 32mo. 

" It is a string of pearls, to be sought and kept and admired ; just the 
book to lie on everybody's ta )le, to be caught up and read at a leisure 
Btionieut for refreshment and reflection." — J\r. Y. Observer. 
16 



Bno^'f Publishea and for Sale by M. Ff . Dodd, 

8ERM0NS, NOT BEFORE PUBLISHED, ON VARIOUS 

PRACTICAL SUBJECTS. 

By the late Edward Dorr Griffin, D. D. 

**Dr. Griffin may be regarded as having been a prince among the 
princes of the American pulpit. He left a large number of senuoni 
carefully revised and ready for publication, part of which were pub* 
lished shortly after his death, but the greater portion of which consti- 
tute the present volume. They are ioubtless among the ablest dis- 
eourses of the present day, and are al:ke fitted to disturb the delusions 
»f guilt, to quicken and strengthen, and comfort the Christian, and to 
Kerve as a model to the theological student, who would construct his 
discourses, in a way to render them at once the most impressive, and 
the most edifying." 

A MEMOIR OF THE REV. LEGH RICHMOND, A.M. 

Rector of Turvey, Bedfordshire. By Rev. T. S. GrimshaW/ 
A. M.. Rector of Burton-Latimer, &c. Seventh American 
from the last London Edition, with a handsome Portrait od 
Steel 

'* We have here a beautiful reprint of one of the best books of it 
class, to be found in our language. Such beauty and symmetry of cha 
racter, such manly intelligence and child-like simplicity, such officio/ 
dignity and condescending meekness, such warmth of zeal united witl' 
ft perception of fitness which always discerns the right thing to be 
done, and an almost faultless prudence in doing it, — are seldom found 
combined in the same person. It is a book for a minister, and a book 
for parishioners ; a book for the lovers of nature, and a book for th^ 
friends of God and of his species. Never perhaps were the spirits and 
duties of a Christian Pastor more happily exemplified. Never di^ 
warmer or purer domestic affections throb in a human bosom, or exer 
cise themselves more unceasingly and successfully for the comfort, thf 
present well-being and final salvation of sons and daughters. From m 
heart probably, did ever good will flow out to men. in a fuller, warmer 
current. In a word, be was the author of the 'Dairyman's Daughter, 
and the ' Young Cottager.' 

" The engraved likeness of Mr. Richmond alone is worth the cost of 
the work : as illustrative of the uncommon benignity that adorned and 
eudeared the man to his friends and the world." 
» 

UNCLE barnaby; 

Or Recollrctions of his Character and Opinions, pp. 316. 

"The religion of this book is good— the morality excellent, and the 
mode of exhibiting their important lessons can hardly be surpassed in 
anything caiculated to make them attractive to the yoiins. or successful 
in correcting anything bad in their habits or morals. There are some 
twenty chapters on as many common sayings and maxims, occurrences 
and incidents — in this respect bearing a resemblance to ' the Prompter, 
^ somewhat oracular book forty or fifty years ago. It is an excellent 
book to keep in a family, an : may bT alike beneficial to parents and 
chUdren." 

18 



Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dodd, 

THE PEARL OF DAYS. 

By a Laborer's Daughter. 

"This is a most remarkable work, which has performed a great mi»» 
Bion of mercy in England, and has now i cached this country for the 
iame blessed end. It is a prize essay on the advantages of the Sabbath 
to the working classes, written by a Laborer's Daughter, and is most 
appropriately commended by an American clergyman in the preface, to 
parents, to the friends of social progress, and to the woi-king classes 
themselves. Besides the Essay itself, there are added the attractions of 
a sketch of the Author's life by herself, and several neat iliustratioos.** 

HISTORY OF THE 

AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR 
FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Oompiled chiefly from the Published and Unpublished Docu- 
ments of the Board. By Joseph Tracy. Second edition, 
carefully revised and enlarged. 1 vol. 8vo. 

" Mr. Tracy has performed his work well, and it is one that should be 
found in the library of every intelligent citizen. It is interesting in 
matter and subjects, and invaluable for a reference. The volume is 
handsomely printed and illustrated with numerous plates, some of which 
were drawn and engraved and printed by natives atMiiisionary stations. 
The whole comprises a neat octavo volume of 450 pages. The research, 
and clear and concise style of the work entitle it to great commenda- 
tion." — Boston Traveler. 

THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF 

FRANCIS MARKOE, ESQ., 

for many years an eminent merchant. 

By Thomas H. Skinner, D.D. 

•' In a small volume the author has given us just enough insight of the 
remarkable experience of one who, in the higher walks of life, honored 
the Christian profession, to make us feel sadly disappointed that we are 
not made more fully acquainted with him. ' No one can read the ac- 
count of his conversion without feeling from that moment a peculiar 
interest in the man." 

ELIZABETH THORNTON : 

OR THE Flower and Fruit of Female Piety, &c. 
1 vol. iSmo. 

♦'This is the sketch of a young female possessing no common excel- 
lence of character ; although called away from her laboi-s of Cliristian 
love when she scarcely numbered a score of years, she was truly ripe 
for heaven. She lived and acted while life was her& for the great end 
of being ; and no one of her sex could read this development of an ex- 
alted character without the desire to imitate such an example. It is 
just such a book we can most heartily recommend for the Family and 
Bunday School Library.— JV. Y. Com. Advertiser. 

19 



Boohs Published and for Sale by Jf. W. Dodd. 

A HISTORY OF THE PURCHASE AND SETTLEMENT 

OF WESTERN NEW YORK, 

Ard op the Rise, Progress, and Present State op thb 
Presbyterian Church in that Section. By Rev. James 
HOTCHKIN. Pp. GOO. 8vo, 

" We announced this work as forthcoming, and are please. I 
to see it, — a large and handsome octavo, with the most full, 
minute, and valuable information respecting Western New 
York, in its various ecclesiastical and historical departments. 
It is said by the N. Y. Evangelist that ' you could almost as 
soon discredit the internal evidence of the New Testament, 
as that this book tells what is true;' but this is an endorse- 
ment which we should be slow to put upon any uninspired 
history. But it is worthy of a wide diffusion, and we trust 
that it will be the means of extending the knowledge of the 
wonderful progress of that great region which it describes, 
that it will dispel prejudices, and promote the cause of truth 
and righteousness." — iV. Y. Observer. 

" The work commences at the Indian title and occupation 
— merges into the actual settlement by the Whites — gives the 
progress of Population, the origin of the first settlers, and 
their motives for emigration — their character — the first forma- 
tion of religious bodies, and a complete, very detailed, and 
valuable account of the various Presbyteries and Synods. 
The * History of Revivals,' to which a large portion of the 
work is devoted, will be of peculiar interest to many, and the 
detail of the primary Missionary operations is exceedingly in- 
teresting." — New York Tribune. 

" This is an octavo of 600 pages. It is a valuable and 
much-needed book. The author was evidently fitted for the 
task which he has executed so creditably. He has lived and 
toiled for nearly fifty years in the field which he describes. 
His judgment is sound, his mind unbiassed, and his spirit 
kind. It is an impartial and accurate history, we think, and 
may be relied on in its statement of facts. Its style is simple 
and unpretending, but it wears such an air of honest truth, 
and so abounds with valup.ble matter, secular and ecclesiasti- 
cal, as to make it not only valuable, but really instructive." — • 
Biblical Repository. 

*' This is a full and minute history of Western New York, 
from its purchase and settlement to the present time ; that his- 
tory interwoven with the still n ore important history of the 
rise, progress, and present state of the Presbyterian Church 
in that section, — a history of a peculiarly exciting, remarka- 
ble, and interesting character. "--^Z6a?iy Specta,t()r^ 

13 



Books Pablishsd and for SUe by M. W. Dodd. 



MRS. DWIGHT 8c GRANT. 

Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth B. Dwight, of the Mission at 
Constantinople ; and Mrs. Grant, of the Persia Mission. 
12mo 

MEMOIR OF MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM. 

ISmo. 

XIMOTHY \A/. LESTER. 

Memoir of Timothy W. Lester ; or, Eminent Piety the 
great qualification for usefulness. By Isaac C. Beach 
ISmo. 

THE CONVERTED MURDERER; 

A Narrative. By Rev. William Blood, with an Introduc- 
tion, by William C. Brovvnlee, D.D. ISmo. Designed 
to show the power of Divine Grace in renewing the most 
depraved. 

BIOGRAPHY OF THE SAVIOUR AND 
HIS APOSTLES. 18mo. 

THE BIBLE BAPTIST, NO. I. 

OR, WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ON THE MODE OF BAP- 
TIZM '{ 

By Thomas P. Hunt. 18mo. 

THE BIBLE BAPTIST, NOi II: 

OR, WHO DOES THE BIBLE SAY MUST BE BAPTIZED t 
By Thomas P. Hunt. ISmo. 
The above two works are published in neat pamphlet 
form, and are furnished by the quantity for distribution 
at a low rate. 

RELIGIOUS EMBLEMS. 

Being a Series of Emblematic Engravings, with Written 
Explanations, Miscellaneous Observations, and Religious 
Reflections, designed to illustrate Divine Truth, in ac- 
cordance with the cardinal principles of Christianity 
By William Holmes and John TV. Barber. 

THE CHURCH MEMBER'S MONITOR, 

Containing a Pastor's friendly hints and advices on the 
privileges, duties and encouragements of Christians in 
Church fellowship, with a view to the revival and 
spread of Scriptural religion. By Charles Moase. 32mo 

23 



Books Published and for Sale by M, W, Dodd 

JUVENILE BOOKS 

THE TRAVELLER; 

OR, WONDERS OF NATURE. 

"The study of nature is always interesting, and should be benefi<;'.aL 
especially by raising the thoughts to God, and exciting admiration of 
him. The portions of His works noticed in these volumes, are mouo* 
tains, volcanoes, precipices, caverns, earthquakes, deserts, rivers, con- 
tinents, whirlwinds, whirlpools, and waterspouts." — Christian Mirror. 

"An interesting and instructive volume, which should be added to 
every child's library-, and may be read with profit by older persons." — 
JtetJiodist Prstestant. 

MRS. SHERWOOD'S WORKS. 

I. *Thk 15 ROOFING LiL?.' ]8mo. ;i. 'The Violet Leaf.' 18mo. 
III. * The Lofty and Lovely Way.' l8mo. New ed. 
" These volumes contain each^ one or more biographical sketches from 
the eloquent pen of Mrs. Sherwood. They are among her early publi- 
cations, and of course bear no trace of the sad change which subse- 
quently occurred in her religious sentiments. On the contrary, they 
convey, with the captivating and winning style of Mrs. Sherwood, most 
important religious triUh. 

MORAL TALES FOR CHILDREN. 

By Uncle Arthur. Illustrated by seven Engravings. 

1 vol. 32mo. 
" Uncle Arthur, the avowed narrator of these stories, must be a new 
relation of Peter Parley and Robert Merry, he has so happy a faculty 
of arresting the attention and winning the regard of the young. His 
stories are simple and natural ; having a direct religious tendency, and 
cannot fail to exert a salutary influence upon the juvenile mind." — 
Boston Merc. Journcd. 

PLAY-ROOM POETRY. 

By S. S. H. 
'•It is our good fortune to know how much cordial interest in the 
welfare of the youn* how much clear knowledge of human nature, 
what a world of goodness, tact, and quiet virtue, lurk under these mys- 
terious initials. The book is what the work of such an authoress 
ought to be, — fre.sh, original, simple, and suited exactly to those who 
are to study it. We never saw a better work for young children,"— 
Ktic England U tekly Revieic. 

SCENES IN ROME, 

IN THE EARLY DAYS OF CHRiSTIAMTY. 
By J. W. Taylor. 18mo. Nev/ ed. 
*'This little work carries us back into tiie heart of Pagan Rome, and 
hows us Christianity in some of its nioM vigorous workings with the 
K)wer of evil. IX narrates various scenes, which, without any great 
♦ffort of imagina'jon, may be supposed to have taken place under the 
^ign of bloody Nero ; and the lofty moral heroism which it exhibits 
dn the one hand, and the spirit of fiend-like cruelty which comes out 
on the other, rill us with alternate admiration and horror." — Jilbanf 

21 



Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dodd, 

PROFESSOR ALDEN'S WORKS. 



THE OLD STONE HOUSE; 

Or, the Patriot's Fireside. By Joseph Alden, D.D. 

"This is not only a capital book for boys, but suggests sentimentf 
not unworthy the attention of children of a larger growth. In it, the 
spirit of true patriotism is finely illustrated by the exain|)les of such 
men as John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, Governor Morris, and our immor- 
tal Washington. To those of our young friends who are looking for- 
ward to the day when they may become statesmen, we would cor- 
dially commend this little work, as an agreeable introduction to the 
study of the constitution and history of the government under which it 
is their high privilege to live."— JVetcarA Daily Advertiser. 

"The object of this volume is unique among books for children; 
namely, to convey information of some of the early fathers of the 
state and the foundation of the Government, which is done in a simple, 
intelligible way, and calculated, from the form of conversation, to ar- 
rest the attention. Its purpose and execution are highly commenda- 
ble." — Literary World. 

"Professor Alden's juvenile hooks are, in many respects, patterns of 
publications for the young. They have a purity, simplicity and gravity 
of style »hnt must do much towards forming mental and moral charac- 
teristics on tne best model." — Religious Recorder. 

" Under the guise of a familiar, pleasant tale of the Revolutionary 
era, Dr. Alden has here presented a condensed and most excellent com- 
pend of the elementary principles of the science of government, and 
our early political history. It strikes us as one of the most useful, as 
well as able and ingenious of the author's many valuable juvenile 
works, and will be a good book for the family, and not less for the 
school-room." — JS'". Y. Evangelist. 

EXAMPLE OF WASHINGTON. 

"A little volume of great value. The author does not pretend to 
give the example of Washington in his entire life, but employs the 
weight of his great name to arrest and fix the attention of the young 
upon some of the essential excellencies of character that were so fully 
illustrated in that unequalled specimen of human greatness— the prom- 
inent points in the work being the character of Washington as a re- 
ligious man. The book should be in the hands of every youth in the 
land." 

REVIVAL IN SCHOOL. 

"This book is a good one fi^r parents, teachers, and children. Some 
of the difficult questions in Christian causistry are here indirectly solved 
in a very intelligible manner: and the touchstone of piety is skilfully 
epplied. No Sabbiith school or juvenile library should be without it" 
— Christian Mirror. 



Just published, in size and style corresponding with the 
above, and to match, '' The Pilgrim Fathers." Though 
this does not bear its author's name, yet no reader of Prof. 
Alden's admirable bo>k.s will be at a loss to detcrinine from 
whence it comes. 
20 



BooJcs PuUished and for Sale hy M, W, Dodd. 

MUSICAL WORKS BY HASTINGS. 



MOTHERS' NURSERY SONGS. 

By Thomas Hastings. 16mo. 

" Those that know anything of the learning, piety, and musical taste 
and skill of Hastings, desire no other recommendation for this little 
book, than the simple fact that he is the author of it. 

" This little book contains, first, six little chapters on the 'Rudiments 
of Notation ;' then follows a selection of simple, beautiful, and touch- 
ing songs and hymns for children, set to n)usic, and divided into four 
parts, viz.: Parti. 'The Cradle.' Part JI. 'The Kursery.' Part III. 
'The CMass Room.' Part IV. 'm\Q hW-Axy'— St. Louis Herald. 

"We do take great delight in attractive books intended to do good to 
children. We have gone through this book with pleasure. Some of 
the songs are very touching, and others very sprightly. That one 
opening 'Baby is crying,' came upon us with great effect, especially 
the stanza beginning, 

' I wish he were quiet, 
He makes such a riot. 
That nobody else can be heard.' " 

Southern Methodist Pulpit, 

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LYRE. 

Words and Music chiefly new. 

Compiled and Composed by Thomas Hastings. 

16mo. 

'In the language of the author's Preface, 'the object of this little 
work is to combine religious instruction with the enjoyment of chaste, 
and simple music' Whether this object has been attained we need not 
ask, when we know the author's name. We know of vothinff contain- 
ing, in so small a compass, or indeed in any shape, that whicli is so 
well adapted to the Sunday schools of our land. In the number of 
thirty-two tunes of different metres, we have an ample range afforded 
»or the selection of tunes suited to any metre needed in Sunday school 
singing, and this music, of the most chaste and pure description, at the 
same time perfectly simple. The hymns, too. of which there are some 
thirty or forty, are of the most admirable character. We believe, too, 

t is the design of the publisher to furnish the work at so low a price 
(some four or five cents) as to make that no obstacle, in any case, to 

heir introduction in our Sunday schools." 

THE CHILD'S BOOK OF DEVOTION. 

A Collection of Hymns and Prayers in Verse, fob 
Children. 18mo. 
By Rev. John A. Murray. 
22 



A NEW UNIFORM EDITION 

OF 

THE WORKS 

OF 

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. 

With an Introduction by Mrs. H. B. Stowe, and a bbaii* 
TiFUL Portrait on Steel, of the Authoress. 

This Edition of Charlotte Elizabeth's works, for the three 
great requisits of Legibility, Economy and Elegance, chal- 
lenges a comparison with any work in the market. The 
two volumes already published contain Ten hundred and 
twenty-jive large octavo pages, and 22 separate productions, 
which are sold for 4 Dollars ; in clear open type, beautiful 
paper, and the handsomest of binding in English cloth. In 
half cloth they are sold at 3 Dollars. Other volumes, unifom*: 
with the two already published, will be added as soon as suffi- 
cient materials are obtained of which to compose them 
Several of those contained in the volumes now out are ir. 
Poetry, none of which have before been published hero. 
Extracts from Reviews. 

*' One of the largest, and handsomest octavos of the season, 
at once a creditable specimen of the handywork of the pub- 
Usher, and an evidence of the popularity of the writer — the 
paper and print are all that the admirers of the Text could 
reasonably desire. 

We learn by the Personal Recollections, which Mrs. Stowe 
justly places at the he&d of her writings, that the writer, 
now Mrs. Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, (the wife of a British 
Officer,) is the daughter of a late eminent clergyman of the 
Establishment, whose family claims high descent ; tliat-she is 
the survivor of two children, and that she has enjoyed all 
the advantages of early culture and refined intercourse 
These sketches of her life and residences, her family, friends, 
and associations, run through a period of some forty years, 
as we infer from some early incidents of her chequered for- 
tunes, (for names and dates are scrupulously avoided,) and 
are wrought with " the picturesque effect of romance." Her 
fair American endorser, just quoted, thinks " no piece of 
Autobiography in the language ca'i compare with them \a 



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richness of feeling and description, and the po\f er of excitii^ 

interest." — Newark Daily Advertiser. 

We have here the writings of one of the most gifted fe- 
males of the age, publislied in a form which cannot fail to be 
enduringly attractive and popular. They are noble octavo vol- 
umes, with excellent paper, clear and beautiful type, and in 
finii and handsome binding. The publisher, as well as the 
authors of such works as these, are to be reckoned among 
the benefactors of their country and the world. — Daily 
American Citizen. 

Charlotte Elizabeth's works have become so universally 
known, and are so highly and deservedly appreciated in this 
country, that it has become almost superfluous to praise 
them. We doubt exceedingly whether there has been any 
female writer since Mrs. Hannah Moore, whose works are 
likely to be so extensively and so profitably read as hers. 
She thinks deeply and accurately, is a great analyzist of the 
human heart, and withal clothes her thoughts in most appro- 
priate and eloquent language. The present edition, unlike 
any of its predecessors in this countrj^, is in octavo form, and 
makes a fine, substantial book, which, both in respect to the 
auter and the inner, will be an ornament to any library. — 
Albany Argus. 

These productions constitute a bright relief to the bad and 
corrupting literature in which our age is so prolific, full of 
practical instruction, illustrative of the beauty of protestant 
Christianity, and not the less abounding in entertaining de- 
scription and narrative. — Journal of Commerce. 

She writes as she feels — her pen portrays her true senti- 
ments — and the tone which pervades her writings, is one of 
reverence for purity in morality and religion. — Boston Mer- 
cantile Journal. 

In justice to the publisher and to the public we add that 
this edition of Charlotte Elizabeth's works will form a valu- 
able acquisition to the Christian and Family Library. — 
Christian Observer. 

Mr Dodd has this time borne off the palm, without a ques- 
tion, and all who admire Charlotte Elizabeth, (and they are 
tliousands) will be eager to manifest their grateful regard for 
such an instance of enterprise and taste, by purchasing, as 
soon as possible, the volumes in whose issue these qualities so 
distinctly appear. The introduction, by Mrs. Stowe, is short, 
but beautiful and appropriate. — Christian Reflector 



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